A Jasper Ghost Story
by Gordon Pasha
Summary: Lilly and Garth don't think anything of the old ghost stories surrounding the Haunted Caves. But, when a number of mysterious deaths start to plague the pack, it soon becomes clear that an ancient evil has been released. And worst of all, this evil has some strange connection to Lilly herself. Can Garth save his mate before she - and all of Jasper - are plunged into darkness?
1. Haunted

**At the end of "Lilly Saves the Day," I promised you guys another Lilly story. So here it is! This one's going to be a little darker than my last one - but hopefully not too much. I want it to be as much fun as that one was so I'll try to keep up the humor despite the more serious plot. Enjoy and review!**

**The legal stuff: Alpha and Omega is copyright of Lionsgate and Crest Animation Studios. I only own my own characters and not Lilly, Garth or any of the characters from the original film. But you already knew all that.**

**And now that that's out of the way, the world of Alpha and Omega is the scene for a good, old-fashioned ghost story.**

* * *

Jasper Park, Canada on a clear summer's day. A beautiful blue sky crowns a scene of greens and oranges. The sun shines through the trees, its rays playing with each and every leaf. The snow-peaked mountains rising gloriously in the distance. Everything seems as perfect as earthly possible.

"Another day in paradise," Lilly said as she watched it all from the den she shared with Garth. Garth himself walked up beside her and nuzzled her neck.

"What do you want to do today?" Garth asked with a smile. "It's Kate's turn to hunt so I'm free all day just to spend time with you."

Lilly thought about it. "I don't know. It's such a perfect day, we could just go for a walk through the valley."

"Sounds good to me," Garth answered.

But just then, Garth and Lilly saw someone coming up toward them. It was a wolf, somewhat smaller than Garth, with fur that was a blend of brown and rust. They recognized him immediately as Edgar, Garth's new Beta. Though he was Garth's age, he looked much older – probably because he never seemed to relax. Edgar was a no-nonsense sort of wolf who always seemed to be on some errand for the Eastern Pack. His harsh attitude made even duty-obsessed Alphas like Kate and Garth look like fun-loving Omegas. He was also very traditional and completely loyal to Tony, which was probably why Tony assigned him as Garth's Beta in the first place.

"Garth!" Edgar said. "There's an emergency in the Eastern Pack!"

"An emergency?" Garth said, alarmed. "What is it?"

He walked over to discuss it. Lilly followed him.

Edgar was about to speak but then he noticed Lilly for the first time. "Um, hello, Miss Lilly," he said in as respectful a tone as he could manage. He had never agreed with Garth marrying an Omega, even after Tony gave his consent. He had to fight those feelings every time he had to be polite to Lilly.

"What is it?" Garth said again, this time ordering instead of asking.

Edgar looked suspiciously at Lilly and then whispered to Garth. "I really don't think we should discuss Eastern Pack business in front of members of the Western Pack. They shouldn't know about our pack's actions."

Edgar had also never liked the idea of uniting the packs. He had been the biggest supporter, after Tony himself, of starting a war for the valley. In fact, he was the only wolf Garth knew who didn't feel the least bit sad after the stampede when everyone thought Kate was dead. Garth sometimes still heard Edgar mumbling that "We should just have eliminated all those Western runts when we had the chance."

Garth normally was able to deal with Edgar, but this time he was insulted. He didn't like that Edgar was acting as though Lilly was a threat to the pack she had married into.

"You can say anything to Lilly that you'd say to me," Garth said sternly.

Edgar hesitated but at last began to speak. "Okay, sir. Some of our younger wolves have slipped away – apparently on a dare – to the Haunted Caves."

"I didn't know we had Haunted Caves in Jasper!" Lilly said.

"It's an Eastern Pack secret," Edgar said disdainfully. "The type of thing the Western Pack shouldn't know."

Edgar caught Garth glaring at him. "Sorry, sir," he said. "And, uh, sorry, Miss Lilly."

After a few awkward moments of silence, the Beta continued. "Tony wants you to go and bring them back. It's not like the caves are really haunted – that's just an old wolf's tale – but they can still be very dangerous for an untrained young wolf. Since you don't have hunting duty today, Tony thought you and I should take care of it."

Garth nodded and began to follow Edgar. But then he looked back toward Lilly. He head was lowered and she was clearly depressed. He realized she was disappointed that they wouldn't get to spend time together.

"Hey, honey, why don't you come along?" Garth said.

"What?" Lilly and Edgar said in mutual surprise.

"If you're going to be a pack leader, you'll have to know how to handle these things. This might be good practice! Besides, it'll give us a chance to take a stroll around the valley."

While Edgar looked sick at this suggestion, Lilly immediately perked up. With a large smile, she said, "Oh, okay then!" and ran to Garth's side. The two mates nuzzled each other as Edgar shook his head in disgust.

The Haunted Caves were at the very southern limit of the Eastern Pack's territory. They were so far from the hunting grounds and living spaces that nobody ever had reason to come down there. They were also considered very dangerous, both because of the ghost stories and the many jagged rocks which were all around. An evil wind blew across the whole area, hissing as it crawled between the many rocks. It was enough to make any wolf believe in tales of spirits.

"So what type of ghosts do they have here?" Lilly asked. She was genuinely curious even though she did not like ghost stories.

"I don't really know," Garth answered. "Dad always thought they were nonsense so he never told any to me. Edgar, do you know any?"

Edgar growled, annoyed at being asked such a question. "I've heard that some wolves say they've heard voices coming from one of the caves. I don't know what else. It's not like I pay attention to stories like that!"

Lilly nodded. It wasn't a very scary idea and she didn't really believe it. So she just smiled and kept walking close to Garth. But then, Garth noticed something near one of the caves. Three wolves, young in age, were trying to get each other to go on. But none of the three wanted to be the first one to go in.

"Hey, you three," Garth called out, "you're not supposed to be here! You need to come back with us to the pack. We don't want you to get hurt out here."

Though Garth's words were kind, the three wolves did not seem to like them very much. Fearing that they were in trouble, they ran off up one of the paths leading to more caves.

Garth sighed. "They always have to make it hard for us, don't they?"

"If I had my way, we'd just leave them to get themselves killed," Edgar responded.

"Tempting as that sounds," Garth said, "we have a duty to protect all members of the pack. Come on, we should be able to catch up to them before they seriously hurt themselves."

Garth now turned toward his mate. "Lilly, you should stay down here. Those paths can get very dangerous the higher up you go."

Lilly nodded. She did not like the idea of being left alone but knew that Garth was only thinking of her safety.

Garth continued. "I'll be right back. I promise." And then he ran up the path with Edgar following close behind.

Lilly shivered as she looked around at the dark caves. She realized for the first time how scary the place actually was. It had been fun to talk about ghosts and pretend like the caves were haunted when she had her big, strong mate beside her. But now that she was all on her own, she was becoming very afraid.

"It's alright, Lilly," she said to herself, "ghosts aren't real." She hoped that she could convince herself that there was nothing to be afraid of. It didn't work.

Suddenly, she heard a voice. "Want to bet on that?"

Lilly's head jolted around. "Wh-who said that?"

But there was no one there.

Lilly's lavender eyes searched the entire landscape. Nothing.

"Must of just imagined it, he he," Lilly said nervously as she turned back toward the path.

"Not quite," the voice said again.

Lilly jumped. She now ran in a circle, looking for anybody who could have possibly spoken. Again, no one was there.

Lilly laughed nervously. "I… I really got myself frightened by all those ghost stories. Yeah, that's it. I'm such a silly Omega!"

"I won't disagree with that," the voice said.

Lilly knew she heard it this time. And she now knew where it was coming from. There was a large cave, darker than the rest, right at the beginning of the path. She knew the voice was coming from in there. She walked over and stared into the cave.

"If this is a joke by one of you Eastern wolves, it's not funny!" Lilly said. "Garth's going to be very mad at you for scaring me!"

"Like I care," the voice said.

Lilly could not see anything. Her heart was racing. She was beginning to believe that this was a real ghost. She wanted nothing more than to run up the path to the safety of Garth. But she knew that, if she ran away, it would be admitting to herself that there was a real ghost.

And there couldn't be a real ghost! Could there?

'Maybe if I just take a peek inside,' Lilly thought. So she slowly, cautiously, began to walk in.

When she entered, her eyes began to adjust. She could now see the inside of the cavern, illuminated with small rays of light coming in from cracks in the roof. There was nobody there.

But, at the far end of the cavern, Lilly could barely make something out. She walked over toward it, her curiosity making her forget the strange voice for a moment. When she reached it, she saw that it was some kind of tablet on top of a rock. On this tablet were a number of words which Lilly could not make out in the darkness. They certainly did not seem to be any writing she had ever seen before.

She could only make out the first few words. "Illam Tabulam Frange Non Tu Stulte."

The inscription was Latin, though Lilly had no way of knowing that. All that she knew was that the tablet was mysterious, its meaning lost in the mists of time.

"You're impressed, I take it." The voice again. Lilly could now make it out clearly. It was a deep, feminine voice. Almost an evil voice. And it was coming from the tablet itself.

"Wh-wh-who are you?" Lilly said. "How are you doing this?"

"You'll know soon enough, girlie," the voice said. "You're going to be very useful to me. In more ways than one."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Lilly said, shaking all over with fear. "I d- I do- I don't like this! Please stop!"

"It's already too late for that," the voice said. "But first, I've got something to tell you…"

Lilly was confused. "Wh-what?"

"Lean in really close."

Lilly's heart pounded. She knew she shouldn't do it. She knew she should just run away as fast as she could. But she was afraid. She was afraid of what the mysterious voice could do to her if she didn't obey its commands.

"Don't make me angry now," the voice said.

Now it seemed as though Lilly had no choice. This thing had her at its command. Who could know what it would do if she refused to obey?

So she leaned in really close, to the point where her ear was touching the tablet.

"BOO!" the voice thundered.

Lilly was so frightened and surprised that she jumped as far back as she could. But by doing so, she also knocked the tablet off its rock. It fell to the ground and broke into countless pieces.

"Oops," the voice taunted. "If you hadn't of done that, I wouldn't have been able to do anything. Nothing at all. But now that I'm free, well…"

"F-f-f-free?" Lilly stammered.

And then, before she could recover, Lilly saw something which frightened her more than anything so far. Above the tablet a dark shadow was forming. It looked vaguely canine, but it was bigger than a dog, fiercer than a wolf. All Lilly could see was the evil, mist-like shape slowly becoming something. And in the middle of this mass were two blood-red eyes, staring right at her.

Lilly tried to run away, back to the cave entrance. But, just like that, the darkness spread all around her and cut off her escape. And then it closed in on her completely. The last thing Lilly heard was a fiendish, evil cackling.

* * *

**What is this mysterious creature and what is it doing to Lilly? Is she going to be alright? One thing's for sure, an ancient evil has been unleashed on Jasper and things are about to get really weird - to say the least! What's going to happen to our favorite wolves now?**

**Read on.**


	2. What's Wrong with Lilly?

**This is a shorter chapter. It's probably not as exciting as the last one was or the next one's going to be, but it's necessary to set up more spooky stuff next chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

Garth and Edgar strode down the path, the three young wolves behind them.

"That was very irresponsible of you three to come out here," Garth said sternly. "My dad's going to be very upset."

The three wolves started to shiver in fear.

Garth smiled. "But I'll try to put in a good word for you. Wolves will be wolves, after all."

Then Garth looked toward the bottom of the path, expecting to see the shining eyes and warm face of his mate greeting him. He was horrified to see no one there.

"Lilly?" he called out. "Lilly, where are you?"

Garth ran down the path looking for her. He looked all around and saw no sign of her. Edgar followed him slowly, though he did not seem particularly concerned.

"We have to find Lilly!" Garth said. "She could have hurt herself or… or…"

"Don't get my hopes up," Edgar muttered.

The three young wolves were about to take this opportunity to run off, but Garth suddenly turned toward them. "If anybody leaves before we find Lilly, my dad's anger is going to be the least of their troubles!"

"Why, are you going to do something?" one of the young wolves said.

Garth was in no mood to argue about it. "No, but I have a feeling my mother-in-law will."

The threat worked. The three wolves stayed put.

Garth returned to searching. As he approached the large, dark cave by the path, he thought he saw something. In the blackness of the cave, he could just barely make out something white.

His heart skipped a beat. "Lilly!"

He ran inside, followed by Edgar and the three young wolves.

Lilly was laying in the middle of the cave. Her eyes closed.

Garth ran for her, but Edgar quickly cut him off.

"Hold on, sir," Edgar said. He then reached down and felt Lilly's neck for a pulse. After a few tense moments, he said, "She's still alive."

Garth let out a sigh of relief. But it was short-lived. Even though Lilly was alive, he could tell that something was very, very wrong. She looked as though she had been knocked unconscious and her breathing, when it came, seemed to be very difficult.

"We have to get her out of here!" Garth said, trying to remain calm long enough to save his mate. "Help me lift her up."

Edgar began to move Lilly but suddenly jumped back. "What on Earth?" he said.

Garth, surprised, looked down to where Edgar was looking. He too gasped. On Lilly's shoulder was some sort of mark. It looked almost like a large, black paw-print – almost as though it had been burned into her fur.

"What is it, sir?" Edgar asked.

"No time to worry about that now," Garth said. "Help me move her!"

Together, they lifted Lilly onto Garth's back.

"What do we do now, sir?" Edgar asked.

"Let's take her to her parents' den," Garth said. "They'll know what to do."

They set off from the Haunted Caves, going as fast as they could. Unfortunately, they could not break into a run because Garth was afraid it would worsen Lilly's fragile condition. While probably a wise move, this meant that the journey took an hour or more to complete, with Garth barely able to contain all of his fears and worries.

Somewhere along the way, the three young wolves broke away and returned to the Eastern Pack. Garth and Edgar didn't much care, as long as they were out of trouble. The main priority now was saving Lilly's life, under whatever means necessary.

* * *

Lilly's lavender eyes opened slowly. She looked up to see her whole family standing over her. She now realized she was laying on her side in her mother and father's den.

"Wha-what's going on?" she said as she tried to get up.

Eve gently pushed her back down. "It's alright, dear. Try to get some rest."

"Rest?" Humphrey said. "She's been sleeping for two days!"

Kate quickly shushed him. But the damage had been done.

"Two days?" Lilly said. "How could I have been asleep for two days?" She now glanced toward the cave entrance. It was a calm, blue summer's night. A slight breeze came through the den. It would have seemed nice if Lilly wasn't so shocked.

"We hoped you could tell us that, dear," Winston said.

Garth leaned his head down and nuzzled her. "When I found you, you were laying in the middle of a cave. Honey, do you remember anything that happened?"

Lilly tried to remember. Slowly, she said. "I… I just remember you telling me to stay at the bottom of the path while you chased the other wolves and then… I can't remember anything."

"That's alright, dear," Eve said, showing the motherly side only her two daughters ever saw. But then she turned to glare at Garth. "Your mate should never have taken you to such a dangerous place to begin with."

Now she started to growl. Garth began to seriously worry. She continued, "If I'd had my way, I would have torn his liver out already…"

Winston silently put his paw on Eve's shoulder, snapping her out of her rage. She looked back at Lilly and smiled warmly. "But your father thought that you'd want him alive when you woke up. So I agreed not to tear his liver out… until you're feeling better."

"Uh, thanks, mom?" Lilly said, not sure if Eve was being serious about the last part.

Lilly tried to pick herself up. "It's okay. I'm fine, really."

But then she felt her legs become wobbly under her. She collapsed.

Eve immediately checked on her daughter. After ensuring that Lilly had not been seriously hurt in the fall, she said, "You are not alright. You've caught an illness or something and you need to rest!"

"But mom…"

"That's an order, young lady."

"If only we knew what this is," Winston said quietly, hoping Lilly wouldn't hear. "She's not injured at all and she doesn't seem to have caught anything, as far as we can tell."

Eve turned toward her mate. "I know," she whispered. "There's nothing wrong with her, nothing physically wrong. But clearly, something's harming my baby."

Lilly rolled her eyes. "Mom, dad, I'm still here. I can hear everything you're saying."

But her parents did not respond. Instead, Eve kept looking at Winston, her eyes filled with worry and fear. "What is this, Winston? It's not natural."

"Of course it's not," came a voice from the entrance of the cave. "It's supernatural!"

Shock filled everyone's faces. Their heads jolted in the direction of the voice. Near the entrance were standing three grey-black wolves, their faces hidden in the shadows.

The middle one, also the tallest, spoke. "This isn't anything of the physical world. You know who's to blame here? It's ghosts!"

* * *

**Who were these three mysterious figures?**

**Read on.**


	3. How to Hunt Ghosts in Jasper Park

**Here we are, our third installment! And this is where things really start to get spooky. Thanks for the great reviews so far, guys. Hopefully, you'll find this chapter to be even better than the last two.**

* * *

"Ghosts! That's preposterous!" Eve yelled, growling.

"There's no such thing as ghosts," Kate said behind her.

"Famous last words," the mysterious wolf responded.

"Not that I'm not digging the whole cryptic vibe and everything," Humphrey said, "but who are you guys?"

The three wolves stepped out of the shadows. They looked to be Omegas as they did not have the build of Alphas and each of their faces were grey with hints of black. They were about the same age as Humphrey and Kate.

Everybody just stared at them.

"Recognize us now?" their leader said.

"No," Eve said.

"Can't say that I do," Humphrey said.

"Not a clue," Kate added.

"Sorry," Lilly said quietly.

"Come on, you've got to know us!" the wolf continued. "We're Western Pack wolves too! It's me, Zack, and this is Nick and Aaron. You've got to remember us!"

**(Author's Note:** **Some of you probably already know where I got those names. If you don't, you can read my message at the end of the story to find out.)**

Everybody collectively shook their heads.

"Wow, I've never seen these guys before," Humphrey whispered to Kate. "They must be more useless than the vegetarians."

Unfortunately, Zack heard him and was none too pleased with the remark. "I'll have you know," he said, "that we happen to be Jasper Park's number-one experts on ghost-type phenomena! And ever since word got around the valley about Lilly being cursed–"

"Who said my baby was cursed?" Eve yelled, her full set of teeth showing.

"Forget ghosts," Aaron whispered to Nick. "That's scary!"

Garth cringed as he realized something. "Those three young wolves we brought back. They must be spreading rumors! That's how you guys heard about it!"

"That's how it happens in this business," Zack continued. "But it looks to me like you need a paranormal investigator."

"A para-what?" Humphrey remarked.

"A ghost hunter," Zack said flatly.

Winston now stepped forward. "And you three claim to have experience in hunting ghosts, is that right?"

Zack nodded. "That's right. Well, technically, we've never actually hunted ghosts. But I snuck into one of the human campers once and a TV program about hunting ghosts was on. So I think that counts as experience."

Winston shook his head in disdain. "Go back to your dens, you young pups."

"No we won't!" Zack barked back. "We're going down to the Haunted Caves to investigate! We're going to prove that a grade-A spirit-level extranormal phenomenon is occurring here."

"Yeah!" Nick said behind him. "And then we'll figure out if there are ghosts, too!"

Zack snarled at Nick over his shoulder. His way of telling him to shut up.

"You are absolutely forbidden to go down to those caves!" Winston yelled. He rarely lost his temper, but he had never had his authority so blatantly disregarded by Omegas before.

"Um, dad," Kate said. "Why don't we let them go down to the caves? The Haunted Caves are off-limits in Eastern Pack law, not ours. And we'd probably need to look for the cause of Lilly's illness in the caves anyway. If they do find anything, it could save us a lot of time and effort."

"Kate, I thought you didn't believe in ghosts!" Winston grumbled.

"I don't," Kate said, lowering her voice. "Actually, I just wanted an excuse to get them out of here before mom gets violent. You remember what happened when that group of wolves came through here tracking Bigfoot."

Winston shuddered. "It took weeks to get all the blood out of the den." He turned back to the ghost hunters. "Okay, you three, you can go. But be careful. Don't do anything to get yourselves killed and if there is any hint of danger, return here immediately. That's an order."

"Whatever," Zack said as he led the other two out of the den.

Eve continued to growl. "If they do come back alive, I'm going to kill them."

"Yes, dear," Winston said with a sigh. "But first let's attend to–"

"Lilly!" Garth yelled in concern. She had suddenly fallen back into unconsciousness.

* * *

It was a quiet, strangely gentle night at the Haunted Caves. The air was still, not even a breeze was felt. The sky was all blackness – not a star and no moon to be seen. Yet, somehow, the whole area seemed to shine with an unearthly glow.

Zack, Nick, and Aaron came trotting into the area. They were all very excited to be conducting their first "investigation."

"You guys think we'll see any ghosts?" Nick said.

"What does a ghost even look like?" Aaron said.

Zack growled. "Everybody knows what a ghost looks like! It looks like… It's about the size of… think of it like a… you know what, just keep on the lookout for any paranormal activity!"

"But what's paranormal activity look like?" Nick said.

Zack rolled his eyes. Back to square one. "It's like… It's like… that!"

Zack suddenly pointed toward a bush, one of only about two in the area. This bush was shaking furiously.

The intrepid investigators were filled with fear. None of them wanted to approach, for each had visions of the vile monstrosity that could be moving those branches.

And then, a small dark thing ran out of the bush.

"It's a ghost!" Aaron yelled.

"It's a squirrel," Zack said, picking up the animal by the tail.

Aaron studied it carefully. "It's a ghost!"

Zack rolled his eyes. "No, it's a squirrel."

"Yeah," Aaron responded, "but it could be a ghost squirrel."

Zack considered this. "You've got a point there. We'll take it along as evidence."

He gave it to Nick and continued to lead the way. Looking toward the big black cave at the foot of the path, he began to speak. "Is that the best you got? A little squirrel? We thought something cursed and evil was supposed to be here! Why don't you show us what you're really made of?"

For a long time, they waited. Nothing happened.

"When you taunt the ghost, is it not supposed to do anything?" Nick asked.

"Shut up!" Zack ordered. "This must not be a center of paranormal happening-ness. Let's try up at those caves over there."

Zack and Nick headed off. Aaron was about to follow, but suddenly he heard a whisper. He could not make out what it was saying, but he knew that he heard a voice.

"Um, guys?" he said, looking for the other two. But they had already gone too far to easily hear him.

Aaron turned back toward the large dark cave. And then, "Aaaaaaaahhhhh!"

* * *

"Aaaaaaaahhhhh!" Lilly screamed suddenly, jolting up as though she had just awoken from a terrible nightmare.

All the others, talking amongst themselves at the other end of the den, came running. Garth reached her first. "Lilly? What's wrong?"

Lilly looked at him blankly for a second. Finally, she recognized her mate and what he was asking. "Nothing's wrong. Why do you ask?"

"Lilly," Kate said. "You just woke up screaming."

"Did I?" Lilly said weakly. "I don't… I don't remember…"

"Something's definitely wrong, Winston!" Eve said in concern.

"Yeah, I told you what was wrong: ghosts!"

Everybody groaned. Zack was back.

But when they turned to face him they met a startling sight. Zack and Nick were running for the den, carrying Aaron between them. Aaron looked dazed, his eyes rolling back and forth. He seemed to be mumbling something, but nobody could make out what.

"What's eating him?" Humphrey said.

Zack and Nick threw Aaron down onto the floor of the den. "Ghosts!" they shouted together.

"We were only separated from him for a second or two," Zack said. "And then we suddenly hear this wild scream of his. So we race back and find him lying on the ground, just babbling incoherently to himself. We thought we should bring him back here."

Aaron began to roll around on the ground and laugh uncontrollably.

"You see, it has to be paranormalish!" Zack said.

"Now, hold on," Winston said. "There must be some sort of rational explanation."

"But we have proof!" Nick said, pulling the squirrel out from behind his back.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Humphrey said, "but isn't that a squirrel?"

"Yeah, a ghost squirrel!"

"Actually, I think it's just a squirrel. You know, the regular non-ghost kind."

"Some people just can't handle proof of the unexplained," Zack whispered to Nick.

And then, suddenly, the squirrel began to claw and bite Nick's paw, apparently not liking the way Nick was holding its tail. In pain, Nick dropped it and the squirrel began to run away.

"The ghost is escaping!" Nick yelled.

"Not on my watch," Zack said as he and Nick gave chase.

But the squirrel was lucky, because it was able to run right behind the paws of Janice, who had just come up the path. "There you are, Billy," she said. "Reba and I have been looking all over for you!" She and the squirrel walked away, the squirrel making sure to stick its tongue out at the ghost hunters as it left.

Zack and Nick just stood there watching. "Does this mean…" Nick began to ask.

Zack nodded. "Yes, it means she's a ghost too."

"As fascinating as this has all been," Eve said, coming up behind them, "why don't you two take your friend and GET OUT OF MY DEN BEFORE I TEAR ALL TWELVE OF YOUR LEGS OFF?"

"That might not be the best idea, dear," Winston said. He pointed to Aaron, who had fallen into an unnatural sleep, the kind that Lilly had been in for two days. "Let's get everybody out of here for now with the exception of this young wolf. I think we should keep him here under for a while to see what happens."

* * *

Garth and Lilly were walking outside in the warm air. Lilly was smiling – she now felt much better. But Garth looked deeply unhappy.

"What's wrong, Garth?" Lilly said.

Garth tried to smile. "Nothing, honey. I'm just worried about you…"

Lilly laughed a little. "Don't be worried, I'm fine. Really! I don't know what happened but I'm feeling completely better. Honest."

Garth cheered up a little. He was glad to see Lilly's old spark coming back. "I know. You just really scared us all. We didn't know if you were going to pull through."

"But I did," Lilly said as she began to trot. "I'm perfectly fine. In fact, I haven't felt this good in – Aaaaaaahhhhh!"

Garth was alarmed by Lilly's scream. But what alarmed him more was that it was not the only one. An equally disturbing scream was making its way down the path from the den. Garth knew it could only be from Aaron. He would have run to the den right then and there but he could not leave Lilly when something bad was happening to her.

But then Lilly recovered. "Yeah, I don't remember the last time I felt as good as I do now. So you don't have to worry or–"

"Lilly, what's wrong?" Garth said, almost panicking.

"Nothing's wrong, Garth! That's what I keep trying to tell you!"

"But you just screamed!"

Lilly's lavender eyes looked shocked, confused, afraid. "I… I did? I don't remember that."

Garth did not know how to answer. So, he said instead, "Follow me." And together they headed back for the den.

When they arrived, they found all the other wolves already there. Kate had apparently arrived first, since she was the one examining Aaron as he lay on the ground. She was particularly interested in a black mark – almost like a paw mark – on his shoulder.

Lilly could not believe what she was seeing. She walked up beside her sister. "Is he…"

"Yeah, he's dead," Kate said. "I guess things have just gotten a little more serious."

* * *

**Okay, about the names. Zack, Nick, and Aaron are the three ghost hunters on Travel Channel's "paranormal reality" series _Ghost Adventures_. Since I needed three patsies to be the first non-Lilly victims of our mysterious evil, I figured it would be fitting to "honor" them by giving their names to the characters. Besides, it gave me an excuse to do a parody of the "investigating" featured on those types of shows.**

**Back to the story. Now we've had our first death! But how are our heroes going to react or protect themselves from something they can't even see? Will this finally force them to admit that ghosts exist?**

**Read on.**


	4. How Not to Hunt Ghosts in Jasper Park

**Here we are, I managed to get enough time to write Chapter 4. It's a long one, but worth the read; things just keep getting more mysterious here. I used a lot more section breaks and POV shifts than I usually do, so I hope that it doesn't get too confusing. Enjoy and keep up the great reviews.**

* * *

Gasps all around as the other wolves looked on in horror. Kate slowly pulled her paw back. Even she seemed stunned by this strange happening. Then she turned to Lilly and noticed for the first time that she had been talking to her sister.

"Lilly, you shouldn't be here," Kate said quietly. She led Lilly away.

"It's my fault, isn't it?" Lilly said. "It's my fault he's dead!"

"Well, yeah, it looks that way," Humphrey said.

Eve growled at him.

Humphrey realized he was in trouble. "Um, no, no, it's not your fault at all. I mean why would… why would it be your fault, am I right?"

Humphrey looked at Eve out of the corner of his eyes. He relaxed as it seemed that this had calmed her.

"Yes it is!" Lilly cried. She walked away in shame from the den and the rest of the wolves. She lowered her head and began to cry. "I just want to go home! I don't want anybody else to die because of me!"

Garth began to follow her. But then he turned back toward her parents, as though waiting for their advice. "Take care of her," Winston said. Garth nodded and followed Lilly to their den.

Now that those two were gone, Kate turned to Humphrey. She was angry. "What was that about my sister being responsible for killing another wolf?"

"Well, it looks that way, doesn't it?" Humphrey answered. "I mean, I'm just saying what everybody's thinking here. This is all tied to Lilly, so maybe it really is… her fault, he he."

"Kate dear," Eve said, "would you mind if I brutally dissected your mate?"

"Go right ahead," Kate said.

Eve began to approach Humphrey, who jumped behind Kate. "Come on, Kate," he said. "This is a joke, right? I mean, you're not really going to let your mom attack me?"

"Say you're sorry for accusing Lilly and maybe I'll think about it," Kate responded.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Humphrey said. "Now, please, don't let her kill me!"

"Okay, mom, let him keep his organs for a little while longer," Kate said. "I promise you can tear him apart next time he makes a mistake."

"Won't be that long, then," Eve grumbled.

"But this isn't Lilly's fault," Kate said, turning to Zack and Nick. "It's your fault! If you would have just gone back home like dad said, your friend would not have been killed. It's your ghost hunting that caused all this!"

"Hey, lady," Zack said, "you can't talk to us like that. Ghost hunters provide a valuable public service, just like cops, doctors."

"And magicians," Nick added.

"And magicians," Zack agreed. "So you can't say that we're to blame!"

"Maybe not," Kate replied, "but my mom can!" Eve growled behind her.

Zack and Nick jumped back. "Okay," Zack said, "but we'll fix it! We'll go back there tomorrow and then we'll get all the data we need to stop the ghost!"

Kate was unimpressed. "But what if the ghost kills one of you again?"

Zack laughed. "Everybody knows that ghosts don't appear during the daytime! It's scientifically proven that the sun's rays interfere with the functioning of ghost-atoms and cause them to explode."

Kate shook her head. "I cannot believe I am having this conversation right now. But we are not giving you permission to go down there."

"Like we need your permission!" Zack said, pushing past her. "Come on, Nick! We'll show them how real ghost hunters catch a ghost!"

Kate began to follow them but Winston stopped her. "Let them go," he said. "We might as well let them try again. If they fail, your mother can tear them apart."

Eve smiled. "Oh, honey, you're always so good to me!"

* * *

Zack and Nick wandered around the Haunted Caves. It was a bright, sunny morning without a cloud in the sky. But this place was still eerie, still very frightening. The place still gave the intrepid ghost hunters chills.

"Hey, look at this!" Nick said as he pointed his nose toward the ground. Zack came running.

"It's paw-prints, Aaron's paw-prints!" Zack said. "But what are those?"

He had seen another set of paw-prints following Aaron's. Zack ran one of his paws over them.

"Ooh!" he said as he pulled his paw back. "Those prints are burning hot! I think I've lost feeling in my paw!"

"Do you think they could have something to do with the ghost?" Nick said.

"No, Nick," Zack answered sarcastically, "I think it was a normal animal that leaves burning paw-prints!"

"Too bad, it looked like such a promising lead," Nick said, taking Zack seriously.

Zack hit him with his injured paw, causing both to yelp in pain.

When Zack had recovered, he studied the paw-prints again. "The problem is that these prints don't go anywhere. They just kind of stop with Aaron's. I don't know what we should do to find this ghost."

"We could look for another squirrel," Nick said.

"Another squirrel? Really?" But then Zack began to think. "Hold on… that just might work! Let's do it!"

Zack began to walk away. But then Nick noticed something.

"Hey," he said, "these tracks may not go anywhere. But they come _from_ somewhere. If we just follow them to the place they came from, we might find the ghost!"

Zack rolled his eyes. "if you want to waste your time on that, go ahead. I'm going to follow up a real lead – the squirrel!"

Nick shrugged as Zack walked off. He decided to trace the paw-prints to their origin. They led him to the large old cave, where they just seemed to stop. Nick looked all around but could not see any more paw-prints in the cave or outside it.

"Hmm, maybe it was a dead-end after all," Nick said. He didn't notice the black mist forming around his legs.

* * *

Winston and Eve were just waking up, ready for another day. They both felt refreshed. Sleep had given them strength and made the horrors of the previous few days seem far away. This was not to last.

Garth burst into the den, Lilly passed out on his back. "It's happening again!" he shouted.

* * *

Nick continued to look into the cave, but couldn't see anything. He was starting to get nervous. It seemed especially frightening now that he was covered in darkness.

"Zack," he called out, "are you sure the ghosts aren't going to attack?"

"Yeah," Zack called back from far away, "I told you ghosts don't come out in the daytime!"

"Yeah, but it's night!" Nick called back, getting very nervous as the blackness seemed about to suffocate him.

"It's eighty-thirty in the morning!" Zack called back.

Nick looked up at the mist of darkness surrounding him. "Oh, so that isn't actually night. It's just a normal black mist swirling all around me. Nothing to worry about!"

Nick continued to investigate. But something occurred to him. "Hey, I wonder if that black mist could be a gh- Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!" Lilly screamed as she awoke. For the first few seconds, she had no idea where she was. Then she recognized her family standing around her.

"Hey, guys," she said. "Why's everybody looking at me. Unless… oh, no, it didn't happen again, did it?"

"It's alright, dear," Eve said, patting Lilly's shoulder and trying to be reassuring. But Lilly could tell that she was scared.

"So, he he, I guess we know what happened to the ghost hunters?" Humphrey said, using his cheerful demeanor to hide how terrified he was.

Kate began counting. "Three… two… one." When she finished, she pointed toward the den entrance.

Sure enough, Zack came running in, carrying Nick over his back.

"Now we do," Kate said.

Zack laid Nick down. Just like Aaron, he was babbling and laughing uncontrollably. He rolled around on the floor and let out a few shrieks. Everybody could only watch as he seemed to go even crazier than Aaron had.

"Isn't there anything we can do for him?" Lilly asked.

"No, dear," Winston responded. "We don't know how to fight this. We just have to wait. Unless our resident ghost expert has any ideas."

Zack seemed to be deep in thought. "You know, I'm starting to suspect that we could have a malevolent entity on our hands here."

"Really? You're just figuring out that something evil's at work?" Humphrey said.

"Hey, ghost hunting's a delicate process!" Zack said. "I just can't conclude something's evil because it goes around killing innocent people for no reason! I have do research first – as soon as I can find another television!"

"Some research," Humphrey and Kate muttered together.

"Garth, get Lilly out of here!" Winston ordered. "And don't bring her back under any circumstances! I don't want her here when–"

"I understand," Garth said. "Come on, Lilly." And he led his mate out of the den.

* * *

It was night. Garth and Lilly were about to go to sleep. Nothing had happened all day and they were starting to think that Lilly would not have another attack. It seemed as though the nightmare was finally coming to an end.

Garth smiled as Lilly cuddled up beside him. "It looks like we made it."

"Yeah," Lilly said with a smile. "I was so worried before. But now I think it's over."

"I'm just glad you're alright," Garth said. "I was afraid something really bad would happen to you."

Lilly nuzzled him. "I knew that nothing really bad could happen to me as long as you were th- Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

Garth grabbed his ears in pain, as Lilly had screamed right into them. He closed his eyes until the screaming ended.

"I guess Nick's dead," he said.

He then looked over to Lilly. She was unconscious again. But this time, it seemed different. She seemed too still, almost as though the life was leaving her. Every few seconds, she would whimper a little, but otherwise she was completely silent.

Garth screamed. "No, Lilly! _Lilly!_"

* * *

In Eve and Winston's den, Nick let out an equally fearful scream and then was dead. While everybody had been expecting this, they were surprised that it had taken so long. But it was still unnerving when it happened.

"He's gone," Winston said after a few moments. "Examine his body and then throw it with the other one."

Kate examined the body. "The same mark, that same black mark is on his shoulder! What is that thing?"

"Tattoo?" Humphrey asked.

"But it was on Aaron and Lilly too. Something's definitely wrong. We have to do something. I'm going down to the Haunted Caves. I'm going to figure out what's happening here and put a stop to it once and for all!"

Zack laughed. "Ha! You can't go down there by yourself! You're not a highly-trained expert in ghost phenomena like I am!"

Kate smiled deviously. "That's why you're coming with me! I need someone who's at least been around when this thing attacked so that I know what to look for."

"What?" Zack yelled. "I'm not going back there! There a ghost down there and it could kill me!"

"Mom'll kill you if you don't," Kate said.

Zack glanced at Eve and nodded. "Good point!"

Winston and Eve were whispering to themselves. Once they had come to an agreement, Winston said, "Kate, we can't let you do this. We'll send someone else, Hutch or Can-do. It's too dangerous for you."

"But I'm the Head Alpha, it's my duty," Kate responded. "Besides, we don't have any time to lose. Who knows what will happen if we wait?"

Winston and Eve nodded hesitantly. They knew they had to let Kate go.

Kate walked out of the den and signaled Zack to follow her. But then she noticed Humphrey coming too.

"Humphrey, stay here," she said. "It's too dangerous for an Omega!"

But Humphrey was set on coming. "Kate, I'm not letting you go out there all by yourself with only this stooge for protection. I'm coming. I may not be as strong or as fast as you, but you know I've gotten us out of some pretty tough places before."

Kate sighed. "Okay, you can come. But if you get yourself killed, I'm going to kill you!"

Humphrey smiled. "Wouldn't dream of it, Kate."

Kate rolled her eyes as she began to lead them down the path. From there, they headed into the darkness of the valley. There was no going back now.

* * *

**First it was the ghost hunters, but now Kate and Humphrey are putting themselves in danger. Will they survive? Also, what's happening to Lilly? Will she survive?**

**Read on.**


	5. Night of Mysteries

**Welcome back for another suspensful chapter of our ghost story. This is another long one (these chapters just seem to get longer and longer as I go), but there's a lot happening here. Now our favorite wolves are the ones in danger, but from what - or who? The mystery depends as it becomes clear that things aren't what they seem.**

* * *

The three wolves continued their journey. By chance and without realizing it, they happened to pass by Garth and Lilly's den. Inside, Garth was furiously trying to revive Lilly, who seemed almost lifeless.

"Please, Lilly, wake up!" Garth said as he shook her. He wanted to go get help but he did not want to leave Lilly. And moving her might be dangerous. But then he heard the three wolves outside. He recognized from their scents who they were. He was about to call for their help when something strange happened.

Lilly suddenly opened her eyes.

"Lilly, you're alright!" Garth said as he looked into her lavender eyes. "It's hard to believe, but I've never been so happy to see those eyes!"

But then he noticed something. Lilly was not so much staring at him as staring through him. Her eyes were blank and did not actually seem to be looking at anything in particular.

"Lilly?" Garth said, trying to get some recognition by his mate. But nothing happened.

Then Garth heard voices. He recognized them as Humphrey and Kate. Though it was difficult to make out, Humphrey had apparently made an ill-timed joke and Kate was now telling him to be quiet.

Lilly heard it too. Her ears twitched and suddenly, she jumped up. She was on her feet and out of the den before Garth even had a chance to realize what was happening. He chased after her.

"Lilly, come back!" He called. "Lilly, what is it? What's wrong?"

But Lilly just kept following the sounds of Humphrey and Kate's footsteps. By now, they were already distant, but Lilly seemed to have no trouble following the trail. Garth jumped in front of her and grabbed her shoulders with his paws.

"Lilly, stop!" he said. "Let's just stop and figure out what's going on. What do you say?"

And then he pulled his paws back in pain. "You bit me!"

Lilly had indeed bit him but, now that he was out of the way, paid no more attention. She continued to walk after the other wolves, as though Garth was not there at all. Garth knew that the only way to stop her would be forcefully, and he was not about to do anything that could hurt his delicate mate. So he decided that he couldn't do anything but follow her and see what happened.

As these two were walking, Garth heard what sounded like another wolf coming toward them. Lilly paid no attention to it but Garth prepared to leap in front of his mate in case this wolf meant trouble. He was relieved when Edgar came out of one of the bushes.

"There you are, sir!" Edgar said, walking straight up to Garth and not noticing Lilly. "I've got something you might want to check out. It looks like somebody from one of the packs tried to raid our caribou-meat stockpile."

"Yeah, not now," Garth said, trying to push past Edgar. But Edgar grabbed onto his shoulder.

Edgar continued, "However, they failed to gain anything, mostly because we forgot to build a caribou-meat stockpile in the first place. Your dad is going to be pretty angry at whoever bungled that up."

"Not now, Edgar," Garth said, once again trying to push past him.

Garth just had enough time to glimpse Lilly's fluffy tail disappear into some bushes before Edgar started speaking again. "I figured if we could catch the thieves or figure out why nobody completed the stockpile in the first place, we can stop your dad from getting that mad."

"Two things," Garth said. "One, nothing stops my dad from getting mad. Two, I'm a bit preoccupied with trying to stop my mate from blindly wandering into trouble."

"What?" Edgar said. "Miss Lilly is here? But I don't see her."

"That's because she got away while you were holding me up!" Garth said, trying and failing to keep his anger out of his voice.

"Oh," Edgar said quietly. "So where should we look for the thieves?"

"Thieves, nothing!" Garth said. "We're going to save my mate! I just hope we haven't lost too much of her trail by now!"

And he and Edgar ran into the bushes after Lilly.

* * *

The Haunted Caves were looking even more spectral than usual under the light of a very small sliver of the Moon. Stars were out tonight, but this added light only seemed to make the place seem even more otherworldly.

Humphrey looked around. "So this is the Haunted Caves? Yeah, I have no idea why nobody ever comes down here. I mean, I'd love to have a picnic under a bunch of spooky-looking rocks."

Kate gave him a stern look over her shoulder, her way of saying that now was not the time for humor. She had tried before to tell him this but had given up explaining it to him. So, instead, she relied on her 'don't mess with me' look to get the message across.

Humphrey chuckled nervously. "Okay, I was just trying to lighten the mood a little. A place like this sure needs it!"

"Okay, let's look around," Kate said. "Humphrey, you check for anything strange by those big rocks over there. I'll go check out the caves themselves."

"And I'll just go back home and see if any ghosts have gone there," Zack said, trying to make a quick getaway.

"Oh no you don't," Kate said as she grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. "You're staying where I can keep an eye on you."

"But Kate," Humphrey said, "you might need me. I should come with you."

"If you don't find anything," Kate said, "then you can come to the caves with us."

Humphrey had the feeling that Kate was still trying to keep him out of danger but he knew he wasn't going to get anywhere by arguing. So he went to investigate the rocks.

'I'll just pretend to investigate these rocks for a few seconds,' he thought, 'and then get down to the caves before Kate can get herself into any danger.'

So, as soon as he got to the rocks, he made a detour, planning to circle back around and meet Kate at the caves. But, as he was doing this, he suddenly heard a voice. It was barely higher than a whisper, but it was definitely a female voice. Humphrey thought it sounded familiar somehow.

"Kate?" he said. "What, were the caves too much for you already? Or could you just not stand being apart from me for that long?"

Again, he heard the voice. But it was getting more distant as though whoever was speaking was walking away.

"Kate, wait!" Humphrey said, chasing after it. He pursued the whispering voice for quite some time, getting more and more lost as he chased it. Finally, it stopped. Humphrey now found that he was back in the forest.

Suddenly, he heard some of the bushes shake violently. He turned his eyes in that direction. From the way they were trembling, he could tell something was coming.

"I take it you're not Kate," Humphrey said to whatever was approaching him. He did not wait around for an answer.

* * *

"Lilly, where are you?" Garth called out as he ran through the grey woods.

"Miss Lilly?" Edgar called beside him. When he got no response, he said, "Sir, I think we've lost her. She isn't answering."

"She wasn't answering before we lost her," Garth said. "She's in some kind of a trance or something."

"There's no such thing as trances, just like there's no such thing as ghosts," Edgar muttered as they both came to a stop.

Garth looked at him in disbelief. "Really, after everything that's happened these past few days, you're still skeptical?"

"Hey, I call 'em as I see 'em," Edgar replied. "And I ain't seen no ghosts! I'm not going to believe anything the western pack says. You know they're not right in the head!"

"You're also including my mate in that category?" Garth said, offended.

"Well, she is the one wandering through the forest for no reason, so yeah, I'm justified in saying that," Edgar responded.

Garth shook his head. "I can't believe you'd say that about Lilly… Oh, that's right, you haven't met my mother-in-law yet. That explains it."

Edgar was trying to figure out whether this was some sort of threat when Garth heard something in the bushes.

"Maybe that's her!" Garth said. And without waiting for Edgar, he dashed off after the sound.

* * *

Kate and Zack were walking toward the caves.

"So, ghost boy, how'd you get the ghost to come out in the first place?" Kate said.

"Well, I started by insulting and provoking it," Zack said proudly.

Kate's eyes widened. "So, let me get this straight. You knew you were hunting a dangerous, evil spirit and your first action was to taunt it?"

"Yes, that's why I'm a professional," Zack said with a smile.

"No wonder it killed your two friends," Kate remarked as she walked toward the large, black cave. "But you said this happened over here?"

"Um, do we have to go into the big scary cave?" Zack asked, already shivering from fear.

"If this is where the activity is concentrated, then we have to check it out," Kate responded. "Shouldn't you already know that if you're an expert investigator?"

Zack tried to think of something to say. "Uh, yeah, but… I just remembered that ghosts never live in caves! It's bad for their allergies!"

Kate shook her head in disgust and dragged Zack into the cave. Inside, the cave seemed nearly pitch black, with the only light coming from stars that shone in from the cracks in the roof above. Even though Kate had trouble seeing, she managed to focus enough to notice something by the back wall.

She hurried over. Up close, she could see what appeared to be something made of stone. It was in several pieces, but all were flat and smooth. Kate picked up a few pieces of it and managed to fit them together. She now noticed that there was writing on them.

Kate thought she heard a whisper. But she shrugged it off. "Probably just the wind," she said to herself, even though she knew that no wind was blowing.

Kate continued to put pieces together. "Hey, Zack, take a look at this! Zack?"

Kate looked up to see Zack running away from the cave. Forgetting what she had found, she gave chase. She was stronger and faster and so was able to close most of the distance between them, but Zack had so much of a head-start that Kate realized it would be pointless to try and catch him.

So she contented herself with calling after him. "Hey, ghost expert, where do you think you're going?"

Zack called back. "I've decided to become a UFO expert instead! It's much safer!"

Kate once again shook her head in disgust. She turned away, deciding to return to her discovery in the cave. She had only walked a few steps, however, when she head a sound. The sound of paw-steps right behind her.

* * *

Humphrey ran through the grey bushes and trees. He ran as fast as his feet could carry him, without much regard for direction. But, no matter how far and how fast he went, he could still hear the bushes behind him rustling, shaking. Something was chasing him. He was not about to look back in find out what it was.

He continued running. But he should have been paying better attention to where he was going. He crashed straight into the remains of a giant tree which had fallen over. His path was blocked.

As Humphrey recovered from the serious pain in his head, he began to remember where he was. And then he heard the rustling of the bushes. It was very close now and Humphrey knew he couldn't escape. He closed his eyes, expecting the worst.

* * *

Kate swiftly turned around, ready to pounce on any attacker. But no one was there.

"Now they've got me believing in ghost stories," Kate said to herself as she turned back around and continued walking for the den.

Immediately, she heard the paw-steps again. This time, they sounded even closer than they did before.

Kate looked over her shoulder and saw nothing. Silently berating herself for letting her mind play tricks on her, she continued on.

And now the paw-steps sounded as though they were right behind her own. They were louder and closer than ever before.

Kate leapt out of their path and landed facing their direction. Once again she saw nothing.

"If this is anybody's idea of a joke," she yelled, "it's not funny!"

But then, she looked down. She saw her paw-prints in the ground but then she noticed that there was another foursome of prints following her own. And she saw that those were indeed getting closer to hers with each step.

Kate went over to investigate. She ran her paw over the mysterious prints and immediately pulled it back. "Ah," she said in pain. She felt as though she had just put her paw under boiling water.

And, as if she needed any confirmation that the prints were hot, she now noticed steam rising from them. What she didn't notice was the black mist starting to form around her feet.

* * *

Humphrey heard the rustling stop, its movement replaced by the steady sound of paw-steps. Humphrey knew that the thing was coming right toward him. Too afraid to open his eyes, he waved his paws in front of him.

"Now, come on, let's talk about this," he said, doing his best to sound calm. "There's no reason for you to attack me or anything! I'm not really that big of a threat to you! If you just leave me alone, he he, we'll both be fine! You won't bother me, I won't bother you! What do you say?"

Humphrey slowly opened one eye to see how the thing would respond. He noticed that the thing standing over him was Garth.

"I'll think about it," Garth said as Humphrey got to his feet.

"Garth, what are you doing out here?" Humphrey said. "I thought you were taking care of Lilly."

"I was, until she just up and decided to chase after you guys," Garth responded. "And now I can't find her anywhere."

"Why… why would she want to follow us?" Humphrey said. "I mean, other than that me and Kate are so cool and fun and everything."

Garth, much like Kate, was in no mood for Humphrey's humor. "Something's wrong. She… I don't know how to explain it but it's like she's hypnotized or something. She's not acting like Lilly. But what are you doing here? Weren't you with Kate and Zack when you went past our den?"

Humphrey nodded. "Yeah, but I got separated from them. And then this thing was chasing me through the woods and I couldn't lose it. I thought it was gonna eat me or something!"

Garth managed to laugh. The idea of Humphrey being afraid of being eaten somehow amused him more than Humphrey's jokes ever could. "Humphrey, there's nothing out here! I know, I've been looking for Lilly around here for who knows how long. If there was a monster, I'd have seen it."

"Oh yeah, then how do you explain that?" Humphrey shouted, pointing toward bushes that had begun to rumble. Something was coming through them, coming straight toward Garth and Humphrey. Something that would not be stopped.

Humphrey and Garth braced for the worst. And then, as they saw what it was that came out of the bushes, the looks on their faces turned from fear to confusion.

"Lilly?" they said together.

* * *

It did not take Kate long to realize that something strange was happening around her legs. A great black mist was now forming all around her. Kate did not know what it was, but she was not about to be intimidated.

"Just fog or something," she whispered. And she continued toward the cave.

But as she walked, the mist just kept swirling around her, getting faster and faster, like a sand-storm. Kate started to feel dizzy as she tried to navigate through it. And then the paw-steps started again, ringing in her ears. Kate stopped, she could go no further. She closed her eyes, trying to remain calm until this weird storm passed.

Finally, Kate opened her eyes. The mist was gone and everything seemed normal. But then, she heard an ominous sound, a sinister growl behind her. Cautiously, she looked over her shoulder.

"Lilly?" she said.

* * *

**What's going on here? Lilly can't be in two places at once, can she? And does this mean our gang is out of danger - or more in it than ever before?**

**Read on.**


	6. The Two Lillies

**I'm back! And this one's the turning point. It's time to find out just what our heroes are dealing with here. You definitely don't want to miss these next two chapters. They're really supposed to be one chapter but I figured I'd break them up so that you guys wouldn't have to worry about getting through another super-long one. I'd like to get the next chapter posted tomorrow but I've been really busy this week so I can't make any promises. So, until I get the time to post the next chapter, you can savor this one.**

* * *

"Lilly?" Humphrey and Garth said together.

Lilly was standing in front of them. However, she seemed like she could be a statue, as she made no movement whatsoever. She did not respond to her name and did not even seem aware of her mate and brother-in-law's presence. She did not seem to be aware of anything, truth be told.

Humphrey and Garth walked over cautiously. "You gave us a scare, there, Lilly," Humphrey said with a laugh, trying to conceal his anxiety. "What are you doing playing out here so late?"

Lilly did not answer, did not respond at all.

"You weren't kidding about the trance," Humphrey said as he looked into Lilly's single visible eye, which was staring ahead blankly.

"I told you," Garth said. "She's been like that ever since you guys passed our den."

Humphrey waved his paw in front of Lilly's eye. Nothing happened. "Yep, dead to the world."

Garth growled disapprovingly.

"Uh, bad word choice," Humphrey said with a smile.

Humphrey brushed away Lilly's bangs to reveal her other eye, which was staring just as blankly.

"This one's out of it too!" Humphrey said.

Garth rolled his eyes. "Like they'd be different? I don't think trances work on only one half of your face."

"Well, I don't know," Humphrey said. "I only ever see half of her face so how should – Awwww!"

Garth turned back to Humphrey as he pulled his paw away from Lilly. "She bit me!" Humphrey cried.

"Yeah, I forgot to tell you," Garth said. "She does that if you touch her."

"You forgot?" Humphrey wailed. "You just happened to forget that little fact?"

"It's just a little bite," Garth said.

"A little bite? She drew blood! I'm actually bleeding here!"

Humphrey quickly tried to find some long leaves to make a bandage out of.

Garth shook his head in disgust. "I didn't bleed when she bit me."

"Well, you wouldn't, you're an Alpha," Humphrey retorted. "Your body has better physical endurance than mine! Don't growl at me! It's the truth!"

"I'm not growling at you!" Garth said.

"Oh yeah, then who is?"

Humphrey quickly realized the answer to his own question. He looked up to see Lilly growling, a more menacing growl than he had heard from most wolves, let alone the sweet Omega.

"I'm going to stand over there," Humphrey said, pointing to fallen-over tree.

"I'm right behind you," Garth said.

* * *

"Lilly?" Kate said.

"Not quite," was the answer.

Kate turned around to get a better look at whoever had joined her. It was another wolf and it looked just like Lilly. But, as Kate's mind began to focus, she realized that there were two very clear differences. This wolf was as black as Lilly was white and the brilliant lavender of Lilly's eyes had been replaced in this wolf's by a dark, bloody red.

"Close but no cigar, sweetie," the wolf said. "Care to try again?"

Kate was trying to put two and two together in her head but something seemed to be missing from the equation. "You… you're the ghost?"

"Give the lady a prize," the wolf said. "She's got it right!"

Kate was puzzled. "But… you look just like Lilly. And I should know."

The black wolf smiled evilly. "Oh, that's right. You're the sister. Lilly's told me so much about you."

"You've been talking to her?" Kate said, as she began to walk around the black wolf.

But the black wolf began to pace too. "Well, not so much talking to her as ripping all of her memories out of her little mind so that I get to know what's going on around here."

Now they were circling each other. Kate was amazed that the black wolf, while having Lilly's delicate body, was moving in a much more threatening way, as though she could pounce at any moment. But Kate was not letting her guard down; if this wolf attacked, she'd be ready.

Kate decided it would be best to keep the mysterious wolf speaking. If she was speaking, she probably wouldn't attack.

"But why Lilly?" Kate said. "Why are you doing this to her? Why do you look like her?"

The wolf let out an evil laugh. "I thought you were supposed to be smart! Lilly was the one who freed me from that insufferable tablet where I'd been imprisoned. Do you know what it's like to be trapped in a 3-by-6 piece of stone for five hundred years? Needless to say, when I go the chance to manipulate some gullible wolf into letting me loose, I took it."

"But that could have been any wolf," Kate said. "Why did you need my sister?"

The black wolf's grin became extra wicked. She was clearly enjoying putting Kate through this. "Because I could tell just from looking at her that your darling sister was weak! She had a feeble mind and a flimsy will. I knew that she would offer absolutely no resistance to me. I could just stroll into her mind and take it over."

"Lilly isn't weak!" Kate shot back.

The black wolf rolled her eyes. "You and I both know that isn't true. She is weak! Come on, you must see it – you, the big, strong, unstoppable Alpha, the daughter of the two finest leaders the western pack has ever seen and your sister is a timid, simpering, little twig of an Omega. Don't tell me you wouldn't be better off without her."

"Yeah, maybe we would be but–" Kate shook her head. "What am I saying? Lilly is my sister! You leave her alone!"

The black wolf cackled again. "Such loyalty. So loyal that you're even willing to lie to yourself. But I'm afraid I can't leave Lilly alone, not now. Now that we're psychically bonded, I need her."

Need her?" Kate said. She did not like where this conversation was going.

"Yeah, that's the thing. Being imprisoned for five-hundred years really sapped my power. So, to replenish myself, I need to take someone else's life-force. And I knew Lilly wouldn't be able to resist me. The downside is, since it's her life-force, my body's reforming into a duplicate of hers. But once I've absorbed it completely, my powers will be replenished and I can retake my true form."

Kate tried to maintain a firm expression; she did not want the ghost to realize how upset she was that it intended to kill Lilly.

But then the black wolf paused. "And that won't be a moment too soon. I mean, what's with this body of hers anyway?" She grabbed her own tail, as bushy as Lilly's, and waved it in Kate's face. "Look at this! Is it a tail or a pom-pom? Is she a cheerleader or something? And then these legs are so skinny they might as well be stilts!" A slight breeze blew down her bangs, which she promptly pushed back. "And these bangs, why do they keep falling over my eye?"

Once she had said this, the black wolf and Kate resumed their circling. Kate had not expected the sudden outburst, but she was not going to let it distract her. There was still much to learn of this new adversary.

"And Nick and Aaron?" Kate asked. "Did you steal their life-forces too?"

The black wolf shook her head. "No, that's the thing. Once I've chosen one wolf to psychically bond with, I can only steal that wolf's life-force. I won't be strong enough to consume more until that first one has been sucked dry."

"Then why kill Nick and Aaron?"

The black wolf smiled. "That? That was just good, clean fun! I mean, I do get so bored sulking around these caves all day."

Kate was disgusted. "But why toy with them like you did when you could have just killed them here?"

"You sure have a lot of questions!" snarled the ghost. "I did what I did because its more fun that way! Why kill them immediately when I can just put my paw on them like so–"

She touched Kate's shoulder with her black paw. Kate tried not to flinch as the paw seemed to burn into her body, as though she was being branded. When the black wolf pulled back her paw, there was now a large black mark on Kate's shoulder.

"–and put my curse upon them… like I just did you!" The black wolf smiled wickedly as she admired her handiwork. Then, with child-like glee, she said, "Ask me how the curse works!"

Kate shook her head. She wasn't about to do anything just because a malevolent being told her to. "Okay, look, Black Lilly–"

"Black Lilly?" The ghost said, perplexed.

Kate shook her head. "Fine, Evil Lilly. Now, Evil Lilly, you had better–"

"Huh?" the black wolf said.

Kate sighed. "Fine. Ghost Lilly sound better?"

"Why are you calling me these names?" the disgusted ghost barked. "Don't you understand anything? I am not Lilly, I just happen to have her appearance!"

"Yeah," Kate said, "but you got that appearance from stealing her life-force. So, since her life-force is what makes up your body, that's kind-of like you're an evil version of her."

The black wolf shrugged. "I guess it kinda does. But do you have to keep calling me by her name?"

"That depends," Kate answered. "What's yours?"

"My name?" The black wolf let out a haughty guffaw. "It isn't the practice of my kind to give out names. After all, we don't really need them. When I come up to someone, the only thing they ever need to address me as is 'Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!'"

"Well, I need something to call you," Kate said. "And I can't just call you 'aaaaaaaaaaaaaah.' "

"Picky, picky," the black wolf said.

"Fine, then I'm just going to call you Evil Lilly from now on," Kate said. "I mean, it's the best way I've got of describing you."

"Okay, okay," the black wolf said, "if it will stop you from calling me that, I'll come up with something. I don't want to be called Lilly, so…"

"But you are kind-of like Lilly," Kate noted.

"Yeah, I guess I am. So, what would be like Lilly but would sound suitably evil?"

Kate shrugged. "I'm not really an expert at coming up with evil-sounding names."

The black wolf's eyes moved from side to side as she considered the possibilities, looking for the perfect new moniker. Finally, her mouth formed into a large, toothy grin. "You can call me… Lilith!"

* * *

**And there you go. Now we know what - or who - the wolves are dealing with, but it looks like the battle's just getting started. Has Kate been cursed? And what's going to happen between Humphrey, Garth, and Lilly?**

**Read on.**


	7. Kate Faces Death

**You can stop waiting and wondering - I have indeed found the time to post the next chapter. And this time, things really get serious for all of our heroes. Nothing else really needs to be said, so - enjoy!**

* * *

Humphrey and Garth stood by the log, neither sure of what to do. Lilly continued to stand in front of them, staring blankly.

"Oookay," Humphrey said. "If nobody minds, I'm going to go check on Kate. I don't like leaving her out there with just Zack for protection."

But, as he began to leave, Lilly started to snap randomly and bite at him. Humphrey scurried back to the log. But it did not seem to dissuade Lilly, who now advanced on Humphrey and Garth as she snapped and bit. Things were looking bad.

* * *

Kate still refused to ask about the curse.

"You should want to know, girlie," Lilith said, "since you're now under my curse. So, I'll tell you. See, it starts with that black mark. And then you start to see illusions, illusions of me. Or maybe they're not illusions… But, you see me everywhere. There's nowhere you can run, nowhere you can hide, because I'm right there beside you. It gets to the point where you can't even tell what's real and what's not anymore. And, at that point, you go mad – if you haven't gone mad already, that is. And then, from that combination of fear and insanity, guess what? You die! Hahaha! You die a completely painful and horrific – umphf!"

Lilith had gotten so involved in describing her curse that she did not notice Kate's attack until it was too late. Kate had recognized that it might be the only opportunity to catch the fiend off-guard and so had bit Lilith's neck and forced her to the ground. Kate intended to hold down Lilith until help – any form of help – arrived.

But Lilith didn't take kindly to the plan. With a growl, she flung Kate off of her, sending the golden-brown wolf crashing into a nearby dead-tree.

Lilith got up, her eyes burning with anger. Literally, since they now burst into flame, a dark red flame. Smoke flew from Lilith's mouth and nostrils as she approached Kate and said, "Fine, forget the curse. Just for that, I'm going to kill you right now!"

* * *

Lilly had almost reached Humphrey and Garth and was showing no signs of stopping.

"Can't you do something?" Humphrey asked, terrified.

"I'm not going to attack my mate, Humphrey!" Garth shouted, though he was equally terrified.

"No, I was thinking of, you know, trying to snap her out of it," Humphrey said. "She's your mate, after all, so I think she'll listen to you!"

Garth considered this but before he could respond, Lilly was suddenly sent flying by a rust-colored blur. Garth and Humphrey recognized Edgar standing over her.

Edgar held Lilly's neck in his paws and was banging her head against the ground. She was trying to fight back, growling and hissing, and waving all four of her legs, but Edgar was too big and burly for it to have much of an effect.

"Die, evil scum, die!" Edgar shouted.

* * *

Just as Lilith was about to reach Kate, she suddenly stopped and turned her head in the direction of the woods.

"That's not possible," Lilith whispered to herself. And then she was knocked back as Kate launched herself from the trunk of the tree and delivered a dropkick to the black wolf's jaw.

'I gotta be careful,' Kate thought. 'She may have Lilly's body, but she's got ten times her strength. But maybe if I can keep weaving I can stay ahead of her.'

Lilith was quick to get up and charge, but Kate managed to flip out of the way. When the black wolf charged again, Kate managed to dodge and meet Lilith with a right hook. This time, however, Lilith did not seem hurt in the slightest.

"Oh, guess what?" Lilith said evilly. "I can only be hurt when I'm distracted! And I won't get distracted again!"

* * *

"Die, die, die!" Edgar shouted as he continued to pound Lilly's head against the ground.

Garth ran up and began to pull him off her. "Edgar, stop!"

Edgar obeyed the command. He looked at Garth and then back down at his prey. "Miss Lilly!" he shouted in surprise. "What do I do, sir?"

"How about you start by not choking her?" Garth said.

Edgar pulled back his paws. But as he did so, Lilly bit both.

"She bit me!" Edgar yelled.

"Yeah, join the club," Humphrey said.

Garth now pushed himself between Edgar and Lilly. He looked Lilly deeply in the eyes. "Lilly, honey?" he said. "It's me, Garth. You know, your mate. Now, I know that since we love each other so much, you'd never do anything to – my nose!"

Garth pulled away and held his nose in pain.

"I knew it, she's gone crazy!" Edgar yelled as he launched himself at Lilly. "I always knew that it was just a matter of time!"

"Oh, no you don't!" Garth yelled, holding Edgar back. At which point, Lilly bit Garth's leg.

This gave Edgar the opportunity to charge Lilly, who responded by biting his elbow. But before Edgar could do anything, Garth put his foreleg between them.

"You are not killing my mate!" Garth said as Lilly bit his foreleg.

"She's a danger to us all, sir!" Edgar responded as he tried to get around Garth, only to get bit in the nose by Lilly. "It's the only way!"

After Lilly bit Garth again, Edgar had an opening and pounced on Lilly. He bit her neck and she bit his leg. But before either one could do more, Garth again pulled Edgar off Lilly. He was thanked for his troubles by being bit in shoulder by his mate.

Humphrey just watched. "This is better than the Three Stooges!" he said.

* * *

Kate had now given her opponent a perfect opening and Lilith sliced at her with her claws. While Kate successfully flipped out of the way, she felt like her shoulder was burning. She looked down to see the fur along her shoulder singed black. Lilith's claws had blackened the fur even if they had not reached the skin.

As Kate examined the burn, Lilith smiled. "I know, I'm pretty hot," she said.

Kate made another dive for Lilith, but this time the black wolf was expecting her. Lilith managed to grab Kate in mid-air with her paws. As Kate began to feel the paws burn into her, Lilith threw her back into the tree. This time, however, the force was so great that Kate went straight through the tree. As pieces of shattered wood landed all around, Kate came down hard on a pile of jagged rocks.

As Kate felt herself begin to lose consciousness, she saw Lilith stand over her, her silver teeth ready for the kill. Lilith leaned down, ready to end Kate's life. Kate wanted to fight back but all of her strength was gone. Even she had to admit that there didn't appear to be any way out.

And then, suddenly, a voice came from nearby. "Stop!"

* * *

**Who said this?**

**Read on.**


	8. Turning Point

**Sorry about leaving you all in suspense for so long about what happens to Kate, but I had some personal stuff to deal with that kept me away from working on my fanfics. But now I'm back on track to continue this story. So, without further ado, here's our next chapter!**

* * *

"Stop!"

Lilith paused, surprised that someone would directly challenge her. And suddenly, another wolf appeared from the direction of the woods and jumped in between her and Kate. This wolf was very tall and, even though he looked as though he didn't eat much, seemed very strong. His long fur was tangled with many branches and leaves, as though he never brushed it or cleaned it in his life. Its color was white, though it had a number of brown and grey patches which suggested that white was not its original coloration but had only come about with age. For this was a very old wolf, older than Kate had ever seen, with a long tangled white mane and something like a beard hanging down from his snout. His blue-grey eyes shined with a light of ancient understanding… and more than a hint of madness.

He stood in between Kate and Lilith, holding up what looked like an amulet of some sort, and shouted "By the Fourteen Saints and the Nine Worthies, I order you to be gone!"

Lilith growled at the wolf, but it was the empty growl of someone who knows they've been defeated. She soon dissipated into a stream of black mist and was gone.

Kate now felt like she was safe, though she could not explain the reason for this. Her natural instincts were to be suspicious of any stranger but she now felt an overwhelming sense of peace at this wolf's arrival. Laying her head down in relief, she let herself fall into unconsciousness.

* * *

Garth yelped as Lilly bit down hard on his tail. This gave Edgar a chance to go for Lilly again, but the little white wolf grabbed him by the neck and pulled him to the ground.

Edgar felt as though the air had been knocked right out of him. Garth and Humphrey were amazed. Neither could believe Lilly had the strength to throw down a Beta.

Lilly now noticed that they were staring at her. She began to approach them, growling fiercely.

Garth walked backward toward Humphrey and both were soon backed up against the fallen tree, without any place to go.

"We're going to be killed by Lilly!" Humphrey cried. "We'll be the laughing-stock of the pack for generations!"

"Well, you'll be dead, so it's not like you'll have to listen to them," Garth said matter-of-factly.

"Good point," Humphrey said. Then he thought for a second. "No it isn't! I don't want to be dead at all!"

"How do you think I feel?" Garth responded. "At least you're not being killed _by your own mate!_"

"Yeah, but it doesn't make me feel better about the whole getting-killed thing," Humphrey replied as he watched Lilly closing in on them.

Lilly was now right on top of them, her mouth revealing all of her teeth. She began to bite uncontrollably again, and it was only a matter of time before she made contact with the skin of the other two wolves.

"Well, if this is how we die," Humphrey said, trying to work up his courage, "I guess now's about the time we should say something profound and highly emotional to sum up our relationship."

Both of the wolves thought for a moment.

"I got nothing," Garth said.

"Yeah, me neither," Humphrey replied.

And they both braced for Lilly to attack them. But then, just as she was about to bite into Humphrey, she suddenly stopped. She stood there, staring at them blankly for a second, and then toppled onto the ground.

Humphrey and Garth exchanged confused glances. And then, Lilly picked up her head and looked at both of them. Then she looked around at her surroundings. She turned back to them and smiled, confused.

"Hi, guys," she said. "What are we doing out in the middle of the forest?"

Garth and Humphrey realized that Lilly was back, the real Lilly. They sighed in relief, both because she was alright and because this meant they would not be brutally killed. But they approached her cautiously, just in case she had a sudden "relapse."

Lilly became worried. She could tell that something was not right. "What's wrong, guys?"

"You want to tell her or should I?" Humphrey asked Garth.

"I'll tell her," Garth responded. "I'm her mate, after all."

"Tell me what?" Lilly said. She was starting to realize that something very bad must have happened.

Garth tried to offer a comforting smile, but Lilly did not find it very convincing. "Lilly, honey," he said. "You… um… what I mean is, we… well… um…"

"Real smooth," Humphrey whispered sarcastically.

"What do you want?" Garth whispered back. "It's not like 'honey, you're a homicidal maniac' is something anybody thinks they're going to have to tell their mate someday!"

"Fine, I'll tell her." Humphrey pushed past Garth and smiled a goofy smile at Lilly. Lilly smiled back, as Humphrey was much more convincing at this than Garth.

Humphrey's tone remained pleasant and upbeat as he explained things. "Well, Lilly, the thing is, you just spent the better part of the night trying to tear our throats out!"

"What?" Lilly said, almost panicking. Humphrey realized that his happy tone had done nothing to soften the news. Lilly now spoke frantically. "But I'd never do that! I love you guys and I'd never hurt either of you! You have to know that!"

Garth now put his foreleg around Lilly's shoulder and hugged her. "We do. It wasn't you that did it. It was that… _thing_ out there… that possessed you. That's what's really to blame."

And then, the wolves suddenly heard another yell, something like a battle-cry. Edgar, having gotten back up, came flying toward them. However, since Garth and Lilly were on the ground, he sailed right over them and landed on Humphrey.

"Now I got you!" he yelled as he started banging Humphrey's head against the dead tree. "I'm going to stop you once and for all!"

Garth and Lilly watched in confusion. "Garth," Lilly said, "why is Edgar trying to kill Humphrey?"

"Edgar, stop!" Garth yelled.

"No, sir," Edgar said. "I'm sorry, but we have to kill her before she kills us! It's the only way!"

"Edgar, that's not Lilly!" Garth barked.

Edgar came to a stop. He now saw that he was holding Humphrey, whose blue eyes were rolling around in a dazed stupor.

"I've have got to start paying more attention when I do that," Edgar said as he let go of Humphrey, who fell to the ground.

But, noticing Lilly sitting beside Garth, Edgar remembered his self-appointed task. He now charged for Lilly, letting out another fierce battle-cry. He pounced, and Lilly covered her eyes with her paws as though that would protect her. But as he was about to land on her, his jaw was met by Garth's fist. The collision knocked Edgar back and out cold.

"That felt so good!" Garth said triumphantly as Lilly looked out from under her paws.

Humphrey got up and shook his head. "I've gotten some tough crowds with my jokes before, but this is taking things too far!"

Lilly now looked from Garth to Humphrey. "Hey, Humphrey, where's Kate?"

"Kate!" Humphrey yelled. "We never got back to her! She could be dead now for all we know!"

He ran through the trees, intent on getting back to Kate as fast as he could. Garth and Lilly watched him go and then looked back at Edgar.

"We should go too." Lilly said, "But what do we do about him? We can't leave him all alone out here."

Garth shrugged. "I guess I'll just have to carry him."

With Lilly's help, Garth put Edgar on his back. Then Garth and Lilly went after Humphrey, tracking him by his scent since he was already too far ahead for them to see.

* * *

Humphrey reached the caves, the place where he had last seen Kate. He picked up her scent quickly and followed it. He stopped when he saw the old white wolf, picking up Kate's body.

The white wolf noticed him as well. "Does this belong to you by chance?" he said, gesturing to Kate.

Humphrey was filled with anger. "What did you do to her? You get away from her!" he yelled.

He picked up a large rock and threw it at the wolf. Normally, an Omega wouldn't have been strong enough to throw a rock as big as this one was, but rage gave Humphrey strength he never knew was inside him.

But it was for nothing. The white wolf caught the rock and gently tossed it over his shoulder. Lilly and Garth arrived behind him. Their mouths both fell open when they saw Kate.

Edgar followed along behind them. He had regained consciousness while they were tracking Humphrey and had agreed to calm down – more for fear of being punched again than anything. He stopped beside them but did not seem particularly interested in Kate, as he was busy rubbing his wounded jaw.

"Humphrey, what's going on?" Lilly said, even though she was already thinking the same thing he was.

"He killed Kate!" Humphrey shouted, looking for another stone to throw.

"I didn't kill – Kate, is it?" the wolf said. "She is not dead. Merely unconscious… and I wouldn't be surprised if she had a mighty concussion to boot! But she's alive."

"Why… why did you do this to her, then?" Lilly asked, with a mixture of fear and anger.

"I didn't do anything to her except save her life," the wolf said. "It was that ghost what nearly killed her. It was a black beast with red eyes, looking like…"

The white wolf recognized the resemblance between Lilly and the ghost. "Actually, she looked a lot like you, little lady."

Garth now stepped in front of Lilly. "Oh, like we're supposed to believe that! You better have something better than red eyes if you want to convince us that you really saw the ghost!"

But Lilly felt as though something was dawning on her. For the first time since that fateful day, she remembered the blackness and those hideous red eyes.

"He's… he's right, Garth," Lilly said. "I remember that, too. From when I first went into that cave. That's what I saw."

"There you go," the old wolf said. "That's proof positive in my book. Now, if you'll just help me get Kate back to my den, I'll see what I can do about her injuries."

"Wait, why should we trust you?" Garth said. "You may not have done this to Kate, but that doesn't mean you're on our side. Why should we go anywhere with you?"

"Well, if you want to try and get her out of here yourselves with yon ghost still lurking around, so be it," the old wolf said. "But may I point out that I'm the only one of us, it seems, who has successfully driven off the fiend?"

Nothing needed to be said. Nobody liked it, but they had to admit that this wolf made a good point. They all walked over and helped him lift Kate onto his back. He began to lead them away from the caves and toward a large mountain in the distance.

"You'll see," he said, "everything is going to be fine. I'll explain everything once we get to my den."

"Could you at least start by telling us who you are?" Lilly said, still not sure what to make of this strange individual.

The wolf smiled happily and nodded, apparently pleasantly surprised by Lilly's question. "Well, for starters," he said, "my name is Ambrose."

* * *

**Just who is this mysterious Ambrose? And what will Lilith do now that our heroes have - temporarily - escaped her clutches?**

**Read on.**


	9. Ambrose

**Here we go again! I meant to have this out on Wednesday but I got sidetracked for a few days and so I didn't get it done. But now it's done and ready for your enjoyment. This time, we get to learn more about the mysterious Ambrose. But will we get all the answers or just be left with more questions? As you know, there's only one way to find out!**

* * *

Kate slowly opened her eyes. As she did so, she saw the old white wolf staring back at her. She tried to jump up but felt too weak and just fell back down. When she recovered from the momentary embarrassment, she looked around to see that she was in a large and brightly-lit cave. She was apprehensive at first but was soon calmed when she noticed Humphrey, Lilly, Garth, and Edgar around her.

"Keep resting, young lady," the old wolf said. "You took quite a tumble." Over his shoulder he whispered to the others. "She went right through a tree, don't you know?"

"Where am I?" Kate asked him as she started to remember his face. "And who are you?"

"My name is Ambrose," he said, "and this is my den. We brought you here so that I could take a look at those injuries of yours. Their nothing fatal, I can assure you. In a few days, you should be right as rain."

Kate growled. "A few days? We don't have a few days! That thing is after my sister and we've got to stop it before it does anything!"

Kate tried to get up but Ambrose gently pushed her back down. He then offered her a wooden bowl filled with some sort of liquid. "Trust me, there's no need to worry so much. Here, take this."

Kate, assuming it was medicine, sipped it. "What's this supposed to do?'

Ambrose shrugged. "I have no idea. I create medicines all the time, but I've never had anyone to try them on before. I'm guessing this one should cure that throbbing headache you probably have. Either that or it'll make your tail explode."

Kate hurriedly spit out the liquid and threw the bowl down.

"No need to be like that," Ambrose said. "I'm sure loss of tail is an extremely rare side-effect. Probably only about a forty-five percent chance or so, I'd imagine. Again, I've never actually tested this out before."

"That's it, we're leaving!" Kate said. "We're being hunted by a ghost and we don't have time to be playing doctor!"

She tried to get up again, but Ambrose pushed her back down. "Don't worry," he said, "you're all safe here. I don't think that the ghostie is going to anywhere near my den."

"Not to sound critical or anything," Humphrey said, "but how can you be so sure?"

"Well, from what you've told me, she never seems to leave the area of those caves," Ambrose answered.

"Unless, she marked someone," Kate said. "Then she came after them. Oh, wait, she said those were only illusions. But still, her curse causes death!"

"Yes, well, that's only if you get marked, isn't it," Ambrose said with a reassuring smile.

In response, Kate and Lilly both thrust out their shoulders, each one scorched with a big, black paw-print.

"Oh, well, that's bad luck, isn't it?" Ambrose said with a nod. "But still, I doubt she'll do anything here. After all, I did ward her off once before."

"Yeah, you did," Kate said, "but who are you? I know your name is Ambrose, but who are you?"

Ambrose shrugged. "I'm a hermit. I reckon I've been living here in this cave since before any of your parents were even born."

"But, if you've been here the whole time," Kate said, "how come we didn't know about you? I'm supposed to know every wolf in the valley, but I never met you before."

"Of course, I never interact with any other wolves," Ambrose said. "That's the point of being a hermit. It would defeat the purpose of being a hermit if I were to just go hang out with all the other non-hermit wolves, wouldn't it?"

Kate really did not care. Instead, she pressed for more information. "But how did you stop Lilith?"

"Lilith?" Humphrey, Lilly, and Garth asked together.

"Yeah, that's the name she gave herself," Kate explained. "I guess she thinks it's a clever pun on 'Lilly' or something, since she looks exactly like you, sis."

Ambrose chuckled. "Lilith, the name of the mother of all demons in Hebrew mythology. Somebody thinks highly of themselves."

"Is she… a demon?" Lilly asked, fear in her voice.

Ambrose smiled another reassuring smile at Lilly, even though what he was about to say was not going to reassure her in the least. He spoke, "Unless I've missed my guess, Lilith seems to be what is called a hellhound or black dog. Basically, it's a ghostly canine entity that haunts lonely and deserted places, like crossroads, moors…"

"Caves," Humphrey added helpfully.

"Yes, that's right, caves too," Ambrose said, as though this had just occured to him. "These types of spirits are said to stalk any travelers unfortunate enough to be alone at night. When they catch up to the traveler, it's not really known what they do – but when the traveler turns up at his destination, he's gibbering like a madman and then he dies mysteriously a day or two later. Now there are debates whether black dogs are truly evil or represent some unknown force of nature–"

"Oh, she's definitely evil," Kate said.

"Then you seem to have gotten yourselves into a bit of trouble," Ambrose said with a happy smile, as though he was saying something cheerful.

"How do you know all this?" Garth said, still suspicious of this mysterious individual.

Humphrey immediately answered. "From what I've heard, these hermit guys always have some collection of ancient books that contain all sorts of forgotten knowledge."

"Actually, I googled it," Ambrose said.

"You have a computer?" all the other wolves asked in amazement.

Ambrose nodded proudly. "Yeah, a laptop. You see, there's a large human campsite down under the mountain over there and you'd be surprised the things the humans leave behind when they go. That's where I also found this old thing."

He pulled out the amulet on a string he had used earlier. Now all the wolves could see that it was a pendant, the type humans wear around the neck.

"See, it's even got an inscription on the back," Ambrose said, handing the pendant to Kate.

"To Sarah – Love, Mom and Dad," Kate read. Now she was confused. She said, "But, if this isn't really an amulet, how did you scare off Lilith?"

Ambrose shrugged. "I have no idea. I was out collecting berries and shrubs for one of my ointments when this black wolf comes running right past me, all in a panic about something."

"Zack," Kate said.

Ambrose continued. "This Zack, as you say, was screaming at the top of his lungs about a ghost down by yon caves and that the wolf he left behind was doomed. I didn't like the sound of that, so I went down to check and that's when I found you and Lilith."

"So… you just jumped in front of a vicious, evil ghost with no plan whatsoever," Humphrey asked skeptically.

"Pretty much," Ambrose said.

Humphrey laughed. "I like this guy."

"But wait," Kate said, "if you didn't have a plan or anything, how did you come up with that phrase to get rid of her?"

"Oh, that was something I once read on Hermitnet," Ambrose said.

The other wolves exchanged glances of disbelief. Kate was the first to speak up. "I know I'm going to regret this, but what is Hermitnet?"

"Why, it's the world's largest internet forum specifically for hermits," Ambrose answered. "Hermits from around the world go there to chat about, you know, hermit stuff."

"An internet forum consisting entirely of hermits," Humphrey said in disbelief.

"Well," Ambrose said, "hermits, three guys claiming to be Barack Obama, and one serious confused Harry Potter fan who's wondering why Pottermore has changed so much since his last visit. But you've got the general idea down."

"I can't believe I'm standing here listening to this," Edgar said from behind the others. "Is this real, Garth, or did you punch me so hard that I'm hallucinating an imaginary dream-world where everything is even more ridiculous than in the real one?"

Garth did not know how to respond. But, meanwhile, Kate had fallen back into thought. And then something seemed to occur to her.

"The tablet!" Kate shouted. Everybody turned to stare at her in surprise.

Ambrose suddenly seemed very interested. "What tablet?"

"I just remembered," Kate said. "When I was down in the large cave, just before I met Lilith, I found this stone tablet. Well, it was the remains of a stone tablet. It looked like it said something, but it was broken into several pieces so I couldn't make it out."

"Sorry, that was me," Lilly said with a sheepish smile.

Everybody now turned to stare at her in surprise.

Lilly hid her face from the other wolves and start gently kicking the ground, obviously embarrassed by what she was about to say. "Um, how do I put this? I accidentally broke that tablet and that's what released Lilith."

"Told you it was her fault," Edgar whispered to Garth.

"Not now, Edgar," Garth barked back.

But Ambrose now smiled mischievously. His eyes were aglow. "Interesting, very interesting," he said. "It seems like yon tablet is the key to this whole business. I think we need someone to go down there and get it so we can reassemble it and maybe figure out what it says. And since none of you are obviously fit to take on the ghostie, I nominate myself."

"Hold on," Kate said, "you can't go down there yourself. You'll get killed!"

Ambrose laughed. He obviously did not think much of Kate's concern. "I'm the only one who's stopped the thing, remember?"

"Yeah, but you just said you had no idea how!" Kate shot back, her voice rising as the old wolf was getting on her nerves. And everybody knew that Kate had enough of her mother in her to make it dangerous to get on her nerves.

But her annoyance just seemed to amuse Ambrose more. "That's true, little lady," he said. "But I'm sure if I could do it without knowing anything before, I could do it without knowing anything now! Besides, you're in no condition to stop me."

"But I am!" Garth said, standing between Ambrose and the entrance. "And I think Kate's right!"

"So what, you're going to hold me prisoner in my own den?" Ambrose said. "I hardly think so."

Walking over, he pushed Garth aside. Garth was surprised; even though he was holding firm with all his strength, the old wolf had shoved him out of the way without any real effort.

"You all stay here until I get back," Ambrose said. "And don't take anything! Especially you!" He pointed toward Edgar, who was trying to hide one of the medicine bowls in his fur. Edgar jumped back and dropped the bowl.

"I'll be back in a jiffy!" Ambrose said cheerfully. And then he jogged down the path toward the caves. All the wolves exchanged worried looks, silently asking each other just what they had gotten themselves into.

* * *

**Is Ambrose putting his life in danger by going back to the caves? Will he survive going straight into Lilith's lair with no preparation whatsoever?**

**Read on.**


	10. The Hermit and the Hellhound

**What? Two chapters in two days? That must be some sort of record for me! **

**Now we get to see what happens when Ambrose goes after the tablet in Lilith's cave. I figured this scene was so important to the story that it needed to be given a chapter to itself. That means its going to be a short chapter (well, for what I usually post) but I think it's worth it. **

**Fair warning: None of the canon characters appear in this one, but this chapter sets up where the story's going to go from here. Kate, Humphrey, Lilly, and Garth will be back next chapter, I promise.**

* * *

Ambrose cheerfully hummed to himself as he entered the largest and greatest of the Haunted Caves. He looked around, taking everything in. It was early morning, just after the sun had risen over the mountains. But the cave was still very dark, much darker than it should have been when flooded with the morning light.

But Ambrose was undeterred. He jogged deeper into the cave, keeping his eyes open for any sign of the tablet. It was not long before he found the pieces of the stone tablet laying broken on the ground.

He collected all that he could find and began to put them together. In no time at all, despite the many pieces, he had put the tablet back together.

He smiled. "Yes, this will do nicely." And then he scooped the pieces up and prepared to leave.

Suddenly, he became aware of a pair of blood-red eyes staring at him from the middle of a black, swirling mist at the far end of the cavern.

"You know I could kill you this instant, right?" came Lilith's voice was the swirling mass.

Ambrose smiled pleasantly as he turned to lock eyes with her. "Yeah, you could do that, but you won't."

"What makes you so sure?" Lilith shouted in anger. And just like that, the black mist blew away to reveal the ghost wolf, her coal-black body still trapped in Lilly's shape. With speed greater than any normal wolf, Lilith charged toward Ambrose, ready to attack.

And then she came to a dead stop right in front of him. Ambrose smiled a cruel, mocking smile. "I didn't think you'd go through with it," he said.

Lilith growled in annoyance as she pulled away and walked back toward the other side of the cave. "You're right, this time," she said, the admission obviously being very painful for her. "I'm not going to kill you."

Ambrose's smile grew wider and wickeder. "And both of us know why, don't we?"

Lilith's only answer was another growl. But from the sound of it, Ambrose knew that she knew he was right.

"And you're not going to stop me from taking this tablet, are you?" he said, clearly enjoying every minute of this. "You're not going to do anything to me at all!"

"No… no, I'm not," Lilith answered with quiet annoyance. "You win, this time. Fat lot of good it'll do you, though. That thing can't tell you how to get rid of me."

Ambrose was not buying it. "Oh no? Then why have you been guarding it so intently? Clearly, you would not still be prowling this cave if the tablet now meant nothing to you. But you're still here because you needed to stop anyone else from getting it, isn't that right?"

Another hopeless growl from Lilith. Ambrose knew he was right again. "To think, you killed two wolves and nearly killed two others to protect this tablet, only for an old fogey like me to walk in and take it from you."

Lilith sneered at him. He was getting on her nerves, more than even Kate had, but she knew that the worst she could give was a snappy comeback. "Well, it wasn't all to protect the tablet! I killed them for fun, don't forget."

"Oh, so you just brutally and mercilessly murdered two wolves for no reason?" Ambrose asked, sounding as casual as if he was discussing the weather.

"What can I say?" Lilith responded. "It relaxes me."

Ambrose shook his head. "No, I don't think so. You're hanging around here for another reason, aren't you? There's still something else you need… or maybe want. Something hidden, even from a being like you."

Lilith did not respond; she just silently glared at him. Ambrose knew he was right again.

He laughed. "Well, you'll never find it. It's in a place you'll never find. You can trust me on that." And then he turned to leave.

""Enjoy your little victory while it lasts," Lilith snapped. "Because you can't save them. Not from me. You can't save them from me."

Ambrose smiled over his shoulder. "Let's agree to disagree."

Now it was Lilith's turn to laugh her evil, mocking laugh. She realized that she could now turn the conversation to her advantage. "No really. Those others, they're not like you. They're weak, they're fearful, all of them. My, er, _twin_ is feeble and cowardly. It's almost two easy to leech away her life-force – not that I'm complaining, of course. That Kate creature is a bit tougher but she's not nearly as strong as she pretends to be. Deep-down, she's as weak and terrified as any of those other pests. She may be more difficult to break than her sniveling excuse of a sister. But hey, I'm always up for a challenge. They are both mine, and there's nothing at all that you can do about it!"

Ambrose rolled his eyes. He did not seem concerned in the least.

Lilith snarled, causing a little bit of smoke to escape her nostrils. "Don't you roll your eyes at me when I'm bragging about how I'm going to send your new friends to their unspeakable doom! Why don't you show some respect?"

"I have no respect for the likes of you," Ambrose shot back, "or for your cute little schemes. All I can say is, do your worst!"

Lilith shook her head in frustration. "I hate hermits," she remarked.

"I'm not too fond of evil spirits either," Ambrose replied as he swaggered out of the cave. "But, if you'll excuse me, I have more important things to do this fine day. You did prevent me from collecting all of my herbs for my ointments, after all."

Lilith ran after him and came to a halt at the cave entrance. "And just because I can't do anything to you, I'm going to make their deaths all the more painful! she called out. "Then you'll know how powerless you truly are!"

"Just keep telling yourself that, sweetheart," Ambrose said without looking back, obviously not giving much credibility to her threat.

As Lilith watched him disappear into the distance, her body began to dissolve into mist. Just as she was about to evaporate completely, she said, "Very well. Round two begins."

* * *

**Ambrose seems to hold some strange power over Lilith, but what is it? And what sinister plans does the hellhound have in mind for our heroes?**

**Read on.**


	11. The Tablet

**Chapter 11. Like I promised, the canon characters are back. Other than that, I don't have much to say this time. So I'll let you get to the actual chapter.**

* * *

Kate paced around Ambrose's den, trying to walk off her injuries. She was still feeling sore but she felt her strength returning. "I still don't think we should trust this guy," she said. "We should probably take the opportunity to get out of here before he comes back. I wouldn't be surprised if he was planning to use us as the next ingredients in his 'medicines'."

"You're always too suspicious, Kate," Humphrey said while poking at some mixtures of chemicals on a nearby table. "Just because a mysterious wolf appears out of nowhere with the ability to fight ghosts and refuses to tell us anything doesn't mean he's a bad guy."

"Humphrey, get away from those!" Kate ordered. "Ambrose told us not to touch any of his things."

"Come on, Kate, what's the worst that could – yeeaaa!" Humphrey jumped back as one of the mixtures exploded, causing the whole table to collapse in flames. "Okay, I take it back! Maybe this guy is bad news after all!"

"We've got to put out that fire!" Garth said as he watched the flames grow, fed by all the chemical mixtures which were falling into them. "Edgar, come help me!"

But when Garth reached the flames, he realized that there was nobody beside him. He looked over his shoulder to see Edgar trying to grab some of Ambrose's ointments from a shelf without anybody noticing. "Edgar, how many times do I have to tell you to stop stealing stuff?" he yelled.

"I can't help it," Edgar said as he hurried over. "You know I compulsively collect stuff when I get nervous!"

"There's collection and then there's kleptomania!" Garth shot back. "Just get over here!"

Edgar came over and together they tried to smother the fire. But it was getting too big for either of them to fight.

"Maybe if we use one of these ointments, it'll be like water and put the fire out!" Edgar said, shoving a vial filled with some sort of white liquid in Garth's face.

Garth took it. "I guess we've got no other choice. Any longer and this fire will burn us all up!"

He threw the ointment into the flames. However, instead of putting them out, this only turned them green. Edgar decided to help out by throwing the other ointment he was holding into the fire. This caused the flames to explode into an even bigger fire, stretching all the way to the cavern's ceiling.

Garth and Edgar watched in amazement. Garth said, "Edgar, if we survive this, I'm going to kill you."

"What are we going to do now, sir?" Edgar said as the fire began to spread in their direction.

"May I suggest running?" Humphrey said from behind them.

As the three tried to get out of the way of the approaching flames, Kate and Lilly sat at the other end of the den and watched them, not knowing what to think. Then Lilly had an idea. She walked over to the shelf with the remaining ointments and began to carefully look them over, reading the instructions on the back of each.

Finally, she read on the back of one, "For putting out laboratory fires. Only use if fire has turned green and started spreading throughout the whole cavern." She looked back at the large emerald flames threatening to engulf Garth and Humphrey. "Seems to fit the qualifications," she remarked to herself.

She walked over and tapped Kate's shoulder. She showed her sister the vial and Kate, realizing what it was, took it. "Ahem, guys," Kate said sternly, holding up the vial.

"Kate, I think we established that throwing ointments into the fire is not the best idea," Humphrey said as his tail got singed by flames.

"Oh, but I think this one'll work," Kate said. Then she tossed the vial of ointment into the flames. Garth, Humphrey, and Edgar closed their eyes, expecting another explosion. But when they opened them, the flames were gone. They had all vanished the moment the ointment made contact with the fire.

"Told ya it would work," Kate said with a smile. Lilly smiled beside her.

"Kate, how did you know?" Garth said.

"Actually, it was Lilly," Kate said. "While you guys were playing fireman, she went over there and read the instructions on the vials to see if there was one actually made for putting out fires. When she found it, she brought it to me."

"Huh, why didn't we think of that?" Garth said.

"Wait, there were instructions?" Edgar asked, amazed that he had never noticed them in all the time he was trying to steal the vials.

Kate and Lilly rolled their eyes. "Males," they said together.

Just then, as Humphrey walked up beside Kate, they heard the sound of paw-steps outside the den.

"I'm back, everybody," Ambrose said. "Told you it wouldn't take more than a minute or so."

He walked into the den carrying the tablet and a number of plants and herbs. He immediately noticed the singe-marks on Humphrey, Garth, and Edgar from when they had been battling the fire.

"Somebody touched something, didn't they?" Ambrose said knowingly.

"Hey, I tried to stop them," Humphrey said, "but you know how Alphas are. Can't talk sense into them for anything, especially if you're an Omega."

Kate elbowed him.

"Well, no matter," Ambrose said. "That's why I have a spare laboratory set up in the next room.

"The next room?" all the other wolves said together.

Ambrose kicked a rock at the side of the den, causing a large slate to suddenly pull back, revealing another, smaller, cavern with a table and instruments just like those Humphrey had destroyed.

As the other wolves watched in amazement, he walked in and set down his plants and the pieces of the tablet.

"Um, if I may ask," Humphrey said, "you know, just out of curiosity, what were you working on at the first table? You know, the one that Garth blew up."

Now Garth elbowed him.

"Oh, I was working on a cure for heartburn," Ambrose said without looking up from the tablet.

"With a cure like that," Humphrey whispered to the others, "you don't need the condition!" Only Lilly laughed at this, the Alphas just glared at Humphrey.

Ambrose was busy trying to reassemble the tablet.

"Are you going to be able to repair it?" Kate asked, walking up beside him.

"Depends," he said. "Tablets are tricky things. I mean, just take the material they're made out of, for instance. You got your clay tablets and your stone tablets. I mean, I even saw a tablet carved out of emerald once! Can you believe it?"

"I don't think we have time for a lesson in tablet-making," Kate said.

Ambrose nodded. "Right. Well, to sum up, I think I can put this thing back together. Just give me a few minutes."

Kate stepped back and let the hermit get on with his work. He hummed patiently while he worked. In no time at all, he had managed to fit all the pieces together, revealing the tablet in full.

The other wolves now crowded around. The tablet was very large, long if not wide, and contained several rows of Latin writing.

"What's it say?" Humphrey asked.

"Give me a minute, give me a minute," Ambrose said. "Let me get this translated."

* * *

In the dark cave, there was the sound of great commotion. For, these caves, usually so eerily silent, were now filled with the loud noise of digging, as though a troop of spectral miners had returned to work after centuries of rest. This was partially true.

For Lilith was busy digging away at the far side of the cave, going below the rock into the dirt beneath.

"So, you thought I would never find it, is that right, old man? Well I guess I proved you wrong!" Lilith said as she dug with supernatural speed, her touch causing the dirt to ignite into small flames as she tossed it over her shoulders.

Finally, after she had dug far down, she came upon a number of wooden boards nailed together. Clearly, this was a passageway to something. But somebody didn't want anyone else to use it, so they boarded it up.

Lilith laughed evilly as she reached it. Such attempts to keep out mortals were of no concern to her. She put her paw onto the topmost board. The burning heat caused the wooden boards to ignite into flames, disintegrating into ashes in a matter of seconds.

"Like taking caribou from a wolf-pup," Lilith said. Then she growled. "I've been in this shape too long; I'm even starting to think like them now! But no matter, as soon as I get to the end of this tunnel, I'll have everything I need to destroy this puny pack and all of Jasper Park with it!"

As she continued down the tunnel, she continued speaking. "But why stop at Jasper Park? I could probably destroy the whole of Canada with a flick of my paw. Not that anyone would miss it, mind."

**(Author's Note: Just thought I'd mention that I don't mean to offend any Canadians reading this. ****Lilith is just plain spiteful toward everybody.)**

And then, Lilith heard something. It sounded faint and far-off, but Lilith knew that it was coming closer. She looked at the rocky sides and roof of the small tunnel. She could tell they were vibrating. Something was coming.

"How cute," Lilith said. "Obviously, they've got some sort of booby-trap to keep people away. But it's not going to be any match for me! Haha!"

As she said this, her eyes burst into red flames and smoke began to billow from her nose and mouth. She was ready to take on anything. And so she continued down the tunnel.

But as she walked, she failed to notice that the vibrating was getting worse. Pretty soon, the walls and roof themselves began to come down, first a few little pebbles and then larger rocks. But Lilith, certain of her own power, ignored all of this.

Then, a large jagged rock landed right in front of her. Lilith paused. Now she realized that the rumbling had become deafening and the tunnel was falling apart all around her. But worst of all, whatever was coming was nearly upon her.

"What the hellhound?" Lilith said as she looked into the darkness.

And then, as if out of nowhere, came a huge rush of water, filling the whole cavern. Lilith had no time to react before she was completely submerged by the torrent, which shot her backwards down the tunnel.

Lilith didn't regain her senses until she had been knocked back against the wall of her own cave. It took a few moments to regain her senses. The water had even managed to cool the flame in her eyes and mouth. When she recovered from her daze, she realized that the floor of her cave was covered in water, as was much of the landscape outside.

As Lilith tried to stand up, which was very hard since the ground was so slippery, she looked over to where she had found the tunnel. The tunnel had collapsed completely; all that was left was a pile of giant rocks where the pathway had once been. There would be no getting back in now.

"Clever," Lilith said with a snarl, "very clever."

* * *

**What is Lilith up to? And what does the tablet say?**

**Read on.**


	12. The Story of Lilith

**Once again, I somehow manage to get a chapter out two days in a row. In this one, we finally get to find out where Lilith came from and how she became trapped in the stone tablet in the first place. But is it going to be of any use to our heroes?**

* * *

"Okay," Ambrose said, "I'm finished."

"So, what does it say?" Lilly asked nervously.

"Well, the first part is pretty self-explanatory," Ambrose said. "It starts off by saying 'Illam Tabulam Frange Non Tu Stulte. Si Tabulam Franges Tum Ista Larva Exsecrabitur.' "

"I… I saw that when I… when I broke the tablet," Lilly said, her fear making it hard to speak. "What… what does it mean?"

Ambrose translated, "Don't break this tablet, you fool. If you will break the tablet, then this ghost will curse you."

"Oh…" Lilly said quietly. She tried to hold back a tear. "Why did it have to yell at me?"

"Well, maybe if you had listened to it in the first place, it wouldn't be yelling at you," Edgar said.

"Oh, come on, she can't help it," Garth said. "I mean, who actually knows Latin anymore? It's a dead language for a reason!"

"Everybody, please," Ambrose said calmly. "We have to remember that this tablet was made five-hundred years ago. It wasn't targeting anybody in particular. It's just a general insult to anyone foolish enough to actually tamper with it."

"Which would be Miss Lilly," Edgar said.

Lilly now started crying. Garth quickly elbowed Edgar and then went over to comfort her.

"Okay, let's just concentrate on what else the tablet says," Kate said, trying to get past the distractions.

"Well," Ambrose said. "The tablet goes on to wish many terribly painful punishments on whoever does break the tablet. My favorite is where it wishes that they be boiled in oil on fire while being dragged by horses through–"

Ambrose was cut off by another large cry from Lilly. Kate and Garth both glared at him.

"Right, sensitive ears," he said. "Well, after that, it talks about the ghost and how she was captured. It says that roughly five-hundred years ago, give or take, there was a great black dog or wolf that was terrorizing the British countryside. It was killing livestock, destroying crops, setting buildings on fire, and just being a general nuisance. Well, naturally, the good country-folk got sick of it and got their torches and pitchforks together. They went after it, chasing it into the woods. But when they got back, they had all been driven mad. Nobody could figure out what happened, but then they all died a few days later.

"So, they set out another patrol. And it happened again. Then another, and it happened again. And after each patrol, the hellhound would return to the villages and wreck more havoc than before, killing anyone who happened to be out of their homes those days. It got so bad that people wouldn't leave their houses for anything, as if the black plague had come around again. No matter how much they tried to stop the specter, they always ended up dead. And so this went on for years and years, with the whole countryside at the hellhound's twisted mercy.

"Until one day, a hermit appeared. Having heard of their plight, he had come out of seclusion to battle the beast and stop it once and for all. Now, he claimed to have discovered some ancient spell-books which told him how to trap the ghost so that it would do no more harm. So, at the dead of night, he set off to find the hellhound. In the middle of the forest, it attacked him, but he was ready. After a great supernatural battle, the hermit revealed his secret weapon, a stone tablet enchanted with mystical signs. Using this magical tablet he had created, he was able to defeat the hellhound and then he trapped her inside of it.

"Once this was done, the hermit returned from the forest and was met by the villagers. There was much rejoicing at his victory and they offered to provide a home and food for him as long as he lived. But he refused. He said that he needed to take the tablet where no mortal could ever find it. So, he went to Spain and departed for the New World on one of Cortez's ships. After arriving in Mexico, he travelled north until he came to a place which he believed was too remote to ever be seen by other human eyes. There he found a suitable cave, carved the story into the tablet as a warning in case anyone should ever come upon it, and then left it there before disappearing into history."

"Wait," Kate said. "If he disappeared into history after carving the words on the tablet, how do we know that he disappeared?"

Ambrose shook his head. "Actually, I just threw that part in. I thought it sounded appropriate. But I guess this explains why Lilith hates hermits so much. Nice to know I'm not the only one."

"Huh?" the other wolves said together.

"Oh yeah," Ambrose said. "We chatted a bit while I was collecting the fragments of the tablet. That's when she told me she hates hermits. Didn't I mention that?"

"I have had enough of this!" Kate yelled. "You never tell us the whole truth about anything! I think we should just get out of here before we all end up in even worse trouble!"

She tried to walk out of the den but found that no one else was following her. Everyone else was still waiting to hear if the tablet said anything else. "Does it say anything about curing me?" Lilly said meekly.

"Sorry," Ambrose said. "That's where it ends. It doesn't say anything about if we can trap her in the tablet again. All that's left are the mystical symbols. But we don't even know what any of them mean."

"So, there's nothing you can do for me and Kate?" Lilly asked.

Ambrose shrugged. "I suppose I could try to decode these symbols. If we know what they are, we should be able to use them to defeat Lilith, since that's what the original hermit used. But I wouldn't even know where to start."

Lilly put her head down in sadness. Ambrose watched her. Then something occurred to him. "Hermitnet! Why didn't I think of it before? I could post these symbols on Hermitnet and see if anybody knows what they mean!"

Ambrose immediately ran to one corner of his den and dug out his laptop and a camera. He brought it back into his laboratory and starting taking pictures to upload to Hermitnet.

The other wolves just watched him, not sure what to think.

"Well, if anybody else is through trusting our lives to the crazy hermit, I think we should all head back home," Kate said.

"But what if he's the only one who can help us?" Lilly asked.

"Even if he can help us, I don't think he's going to," Kate said. "He's not telling us the whole truth and I doubt that he ever intends to. We'd be better off just relying on ourselves."

Nobody knew what to say. While they still thought that Ambrose might be the only one who could save them, they all had to admit that they did not really trust the hermit wolf. So, reluctantly, they all agreed to follow Kate home.

A few minutes later, Ambrose came out of his laboratory. "Okay, I got pictures of the tablet posted on Hermitnet and I'm just waiting for… Hey, where did everybody go?"

* * *

Lilith was busy burrowing under her cave. Using all of her great strength, she had been tearing through the rocks which now completely filled in the tunnel. She was determined to get to the other side no matter what she had to go through.

Like a mole, she dug furiously, creating her own little tunnel as she went. She moved quickly, determined to reach her goal.

"So, somebody got smart and added a little waterworks to destroy the tunnel," she said to herself. "I bet they never expected anybody caught in that to actually survive. But I'm a ghost and I'm still here. Now that their trap is sprung, there's nothing left to stop me! Once I get through here, I can take that–"

Lilith stopped speaking when a drop of water fell onto her nose.

"You have got to be kidding me," she said.

And then, a great wave of water burst from the rocks in front and above her, sending her once again flying back into the wall of her own cave. The tunnel she had made was completely destroyed by the flow.

Lilith lay on the wet floor, her soaking bangs having fallen over both her eyes. With her paw, she struggled to push them away so that she could see again. She sat up.

"They must have built this thing to flood up whenever somebody gets deep enough," she said. "Once you get to a certain point, somehow the water trap is triggered."

She looked over the once-again collapsed tunnel. "It would be foolish to keep trying to get in this way. I'm sure there must be another way to get down there. I bet that old hermit knows what it is. He seemed to know what I'm looking for and was awfully certain that I wouldn't be able to get at it. Let's just see what he's up to."

Lilith closed her eyes as she concentrated. Now she was seeing through Lilly's eyes, using their psychic bond. But she did not see Ambrose anywhere, because Lilly and the others had already left his den. They were in the middle of the forest, heading back toward Western Pack territory.

Lilith frowned. "I don't see that old fool anywhere. I was hoping that maybe he'd lead my new _friends _to another tunnel. But no such luck. He probably wants to keep the secret all to himself."

As she pondered this, a smile formed on her face. "But, there is a bright side to all this. If they've left the hermit, that means they're defenseless. Ha! Now I can destroy Kate and Lilly once and for all!"

* * *

**What does Lilith have in mind for Kate and Lilly?**

**Read on.**


	13. When Hellhounds Attack

**Chapter 13. This time, Lilith looks to settle the score with Kate and Lilly once and for all. Will she succeed or can the sisters manage to survive her deadly tricks?**

* * *

The five wolves were making their way through the forest. While it was normally not difficult, they were taking slower than usual for some strange reason. And the reason was Kate.

After they had entered the forest, Kate had begun to experience things, strange things. Every so often, she thought she was seeing Lilith. First, the hellhound had only been visible out of the corner of her eyes. Kate could brush that off as her mind playing tricks on her. But then, the visions of Lilith got clearer and closer. Soon enough, Lilith seemed to be everywhere, cackling at Kate and taunting her.

"You know you're not going to make it to tomorrow, right?" one Lilith taunted. "You got even less than a zero percent chance of surviving! And then, your death is going to be so terrible, I can't even begin to describe it," another mocked.

Kate did not listen. She felt as though she was losing her mind, but she would not allow herself to be caught in Lilith's trap. She remembered what Lilith had told her earlier, that the curse caused illusions. Kate figured that this is what these phantom Liliths had to be. She just kept telling herself that they were nothing and so managed to keep struggling on.

Kate ignored it as best she could, but it was difficult even for her. So much of her mental energy was consumed by blocking out Lilith's taunting images that she could not pay attention to where she was going or how long she was taking to get there.

Then, all of a sudden, Lilith appeared on the path in front of her, larger and more frightening that she had ever seen her. This large, slobbering hound with fire bursting from its eyes and mouth must have been Lilith's true form, Kate thought. And it was charging right for her. "Time to die, Kate," it said in a deep, evil voice. "I'm going to destroy you right here and now! There's nothing you can do to stop me!" Kate braced herself for the impact as the thing seemed about to crash into her like a runaway train.

"Kate?"

And then, everything was gone. Kate shook her head and looked beside her to see Humphrey, watching her with concern.

"Kate, are you okay?" Humphrey said. "You're acting kinda weird."

Kate blinked a few times, trying to make sure she was seeing properly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing to worry about."

* * *

Lilith growled as she psychically viewed what was happening. "If only that good-for-nothing Omega hadn't interfered, I'm sure I would have driven Kate insane that time! Everything was set up so perfectly. Now it's ruined… She's afraid but she's still acting tough and she isn't letting the illusions get to her. And I doubt I'll get such a good chance to drive her mad again."

She turned her focus to Lilly. "Oh well, if I can't get Kate, I might as well kill the other one, then. She's weak enough to destroy quickly and easily, especially now that I've drained most of her life-force."

And she entered Lilly's mind.

* * *

"Guys, problem!" Garth called from behind Humphrey and Kate. They looked over their shoulders to see that Lilly was frozen in place. Her eyes were once again locked in another trance.

Kate could still see visions of Lilith, but her love for Lilly gave her the strength to ignore them. She and Humphrey ran over, Kate reached out to touch her sister.

"Don't do that!" Humphrey and Garth yelled together.

"Why n- ouch!" Kate said, pulling back her paw. "She bit me! My own sister bit me!"

"She does that… when she's in a trance," Humphrey explains. "Sorry about not mentioning it before."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Never mind. So, you guys have done this before. What do we do?"

"Kill her!" Edgar yelled from behind the others. "Kill her now before she kills us! It's the only way!"

"Here we go again," Humphrey said as he and Garth glared at Edgar. Kate looked as though she was ready to attack the rust-colored Beta.

"We are not killing my sister!" Kate said with a commanding voice.

"You can't tell me what to do!" Edgar said. "I'm an Eastern Pack wolf, after all! And you're just a Western dog! You have no control over me!"

Since the packs were now unified, Kate knew she did have the authority to order Edgar around, but she realized arguing with him would be pointless. Instead, she turned to Garth. "Should you do the honors or should I?"

"Be my guest," Garth said, stepping out of the way.

Kate walked up to Edgar. "I'm giving you one last chance," she said. "Apologize for threatening to kill my sister, or I'm going to beat you up."

"Just like when we were pups," Humphrey whispered to Garth.

"Sounds like you're speaking from experience," Garth whispered back. Humphrey cringed when he said it.

"Like that scares me," Edgar said to Kate. "I'm not about to get beaten up by a girl! A fight between us wouldn't last five seconds!"

"You sure about that?" Kate answered, threatening Edgar to make something of it.

Edgar growled. "Yeah, so get out of my face before you get hurt! Then I'll be able to do in Miss Lilly and we can get back to normalcy."

Kate raised an eyebrow. "Uh, no. I'm not going anywhere."

"Suit yourself," Edgar said as he pounced at Kate.

Kate easily dodged him and delivered a blow to the pack of his head. The momentum sent him flying to the ground.

"He was right," Kate said to Garth and Humphrey as she stood over her fallen opponent. "That only took two seconds."

Meanwhile, things were very different for Lilly. Her mind had become a battleground. She pictured herself being strangled by Lilith, with the terrible black mist smothering her. Lilith, her eyes burning, laughed as she choked the life out of Lilly.

"Time to die, little girl!" Lilith shouted. "You knew it had to come to this sooner or later. I've taken in nearly all of your life-force. I just need the very last little piece… your soul! Stop struggling now and just accept your fate."

Lilly began to cry. "Please, no! Don't hurt me! Garth still needs me! Stop!"

"Oh, like I'm going to stop because you're pleading with me?" Lilith mocked. "If it was that easy, I'd never kill anybody, would I?"

Lilly felt the life draining out of her and entering into Lilith. She felt herself being dissolved into Lilith's body. Just as she closed her eyes, she said, "Garth, I'm sorry!"

And then, her lavender eyes burst open and she looked straight into Lilith's burning pupils. Lilly's white fur began to glow, becomes a powerful white light.

"What's going on?" Lilith said. "Unless…. Uh-oh. Not good."

"Get out of my head!" Lilly ordered. And then the white light exploded.

* * *

Lilith collapsed to the floor of her cave. Slowly, she began to pick herself up, all the while suffering from a massive migraine.

"Got out just in time," Lilith said. "A few seconds longer and she could have destroyed me. I can already feel that most of the life-force slipped out of me and back into her."

She sat in silence for a few moments. Then she spoke, "Looks like I chose the wrong wolf to bond with. There's no way I can use her to get my full power back now. And I'll be too weak to go after Kate again for a while."

Lilith pounded the stones in frustration. Even in her weakened state, she had enough strength to shatter several. "That settles it! Now I really need to get down into that pit! It's the only way left!"

She forced herself up, about to leave the cave. Then she remembered that she still hadn't found another entrance. "The only known tunnel-entrance collapsed, Kate and Lilly still alive, and that old fool nowhere to be found!" she yelled. "Why does this have to happen now, when I was so close?"

Then an idea occurred to her. "I doubt that old Ambrose will leave them alone for long. When they get back together, then I can confront him about all the secrets he's hiding. And as for Kate and Lilly, there's more than one way to kill a wolf! Hahaha!"

* * *

Lilly blinked slowly. It was the first movement she had made in minutes. She looked around to see Kate, Garth, and Humphrey watching her with concern.

"I was in a trance again, wasn't I?" Lilly said.

"Lilly, what happened?" Kate asked. "Do you remember anything?"

Lilly tried to shake the confusion out of her head. "I… think I do. I just remember Lilith… strangling me, saying that she was going to steal my soul. And then there was this light… and she disappeared… and I don't know why."

Garth nuzzled her. "It's alright. She's gone now."

"For now," Humphrey said. "I'm sure she'll be back later."

Kate elbowed him.

"What, not a good time?" Humphrey asked.

"But… it was different this time," Lilly said. "Something happened… to her. I don't know what, but something… injured her."

Kate nodded. "You're right. Something's happened to her. That's just what I felt when the visions disappeared."

"Visions?" Humphrey and Garth said together. "I thought you said you were fine," Humphrey said.

"I was… I mean I am," Kate said. "But Lilith was attacking me… or at least illusions of her were. But then they all stopped just before Lilly came out of her trance. Something's definitely up."

"I'll say something's up!" came a voice from behind a tree. Ambrose walked out and continued speaking in a pleasant voice that didn't seem to match what he had to say. "There's the fact that you all walked out on me when I'm trying to save your lives! Don't you understand how dangerous that was?"

Kate snarled. "And don't you understand how dangerous it would be for us to stay with you? You never tell us what we need to know! You just have to keep doing the mystery routine! How are we supposed to trust you?"

Ambrose shook his head. "Little lady, there are forces at play here that you cannot even begin to understand. If I've kept anything from you, it's only because it is for the best. You must realize that."

Kate growled. "Why should I believe you? How can I know that there is something I can't understand if you don't tell me what it is?"

Ambrose smiled. "You at least have to admit that you have to choose between trusting me and going against Lilith alone. And if nothing else, I'm the lesser of the two evils."

Kate was silent for a moment as she thought this over. Finally, she nodded reluctantly. She did not want to admit it, but Ambrose seemed like the only one with any idea about what was going on. And they couldn't afford to just turn away any advantage, no matter the risks involved.

"But how do we know Lilith is coming back?" Garth said. "I mean, since Lilly blew her up."

"Blew her up?" Ambrose asked.

"Yeah," Garth responded. "Lilith possessed Lilly and tried to steal her soul. But then Lilly says this bright light appeared and blew Lilith away. She couldn't take Lilly's soul."

Ambrose looked from Garth to Lilly, who hid her face in Garth's shoulder. The hermit considered what he had been told. Then he burst out laughing. "No, she wouldn't be able to, would she?"

"Why not?" Garth and Kate said together.

"I'll explain later," Ambrose said, "though I think it's pretty obvious."

"No, you'll explain now," Kate responded, "if you want us to trust you."

"That's fine by me," Ambrose remarked. "But do you really think the middle of the forest is the best place to discuss this? We would be safer in my den."

Kate considered this. "Yeah, we do need to go someplace safer. But not your den, I don't trust you enough. If you're really serious about coming along, you can follow us to my parents' den. I'm sure they'd love to meet you!"

"Fine," Ambrose said, "as long as everybody's up to it. Speaking of which, what's wrong with him?" He pointed to Edgar, still lying on the ground.

"Edgar, get up!" Garth ordered.

"I don't want to," Edgar said. "Miss Kate will beat me up again if I do."

"Only if you try to kill Lilly again," Kate said.

"I don't believe you!" Edgar shot back.

"Okay," Kate answered. "Let me explain it like this. I may beat you up if you do get up, but I'll definitely beat you up if you don't!"

Edgar immediately jumped up. "Okay, let's go!"

"Alright," Ambrose said, "if everyone here's ready, let's get moving before the sun sets. Actually, it'll be quite interesting to see what's been happening with the wolf packs of the valley since I was last down there all those years ago. Lead on, little lady."

Kate responded, "Don't mind if I do."

* * *

**How did Lilly defeat Lilith? What is the hellhound going to try next? And, perhaps most importantly, what are Eve and Winston going to do when they hear about all this?**

**Read on.**


	14. Coming Home

**This is a slightly longer chapter than normal, but we finally get to see what happens when our heroes reach home after their adventure. But are their troubles ending or just beginning? Some more questions get answered this chapter as we move closer to the story's dramatic conclusion.**

* * *

Winston and Tony stood outside of Winston's den, both very worried by their children's disappearance.

"So, there's been nothing from Kate or Humphrey for nearly a whole day?" Tony asked.

Winston nodded sadly. "Yes, and Garth and Lilly have disappeared too."

"All because of this so-called ghost? I don't believe in ghosts, Winston, but if my son and your daughters are gone for so long – especially my son – then something must be very wrong! We should get a party of Alphas together and go down there at once. I can't believe you let them go down there when it is against Eastern Pack law!"

"But not against Western Pack law," Winston answered. "I only allowed Kate and Humphrey to go, not Garth or Lilly. But, in any case, we had to send someone down there to investigate what was going on. But we can't send anybody else out yet, not until we get a better idea of what happened."

Tony snarled. "How can we get a better idea of what happened when nobody came back?"

"I didn't say that nobody came back," Winston responded. "One of them did. That ghost hunter, Zack, came back here last night, babbling about ghosts and Kate and doom. We've been trying to make sense out of it all this morning."

"Oh," Tony said, "and where is this wolf now?"

Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream emanated from Winston's den.

"Eve's interrogating him," Winston said.

A few more of Zack's anguished screams came from the den. Winston and Tony peeked inside and then turned away in disgust.

"Is it even physically possible for a wolf's body to twist like that?" Tony asked.

"No, I don't think so," Winston said calmly.

"What is she trying to do?" Tony said.

"Well, you know that legendary Gordian knot which was impossible to untie?"

"Yeah."

"Same basic idea," Winston said, "except much worse."

Another scream from Zack.

"Don't maul him too badly, dear," Winston said. "We still need him to tell us what happened."

"He abandoned my baby to that monster!" Eve shouted back. "He will suffer!"

Winston shook his head. "There's no talking to her when she gets like this. Just ignore it."

Another painful scream. "How do you learn to ignore that?" Tony asked in surprise.

"You get used to it in time," Winston answered.

* * *

The six wolves finally neared Winston and Eve's den. Having gotten no real rest for over twenty-four hours, all of them were very tired and fatigued – with the exception of Ambrose, who was as cheerful and energetic as ever.

"Finally, we're here. And there's dad, talking to Tony," Kate said.

And then another scream from the den.

"And mom's there too!" Lilly added.

As they began to trudge up toward the cliff, Ambrose noticed something out of the corner of his eye. "Go on without me," he called. "I'll just be a few moments. Something's caught my eye."

Though the others did not like the idea of Ambrose disappearing again, all of them felt too weary to protest. They went on without him.

Ambrose made a turn down the path and came to a small area hidden by rocks underneath the cliff. Standing there in front of him was Lilith. She looked weak; her legs seemed like they were barely able to support her and her body looked very frail. She was leaning against one of the rocks for support, being unable to stand on her own.

"I say, somebody's looking uncharacteristically helpless today," Ambrose said with a smile.

"Shut it!" Lilith snapped. "I should kill you! You deserve to die!"

Ambrose chuckled. "But you won't, especially not in that state. Though I suppose I have to give you some credit. You came all the way from your cave in that condition, which is admirable, I suppose."

Lilith growled. But then she nearly fell over. "It's nothing," she lied. "Just a little backfire from the life-stealing process. Happens all the time."

Ambrose smiled knowingly. "You and I both know that's not true. We both know why you're so weak. You're in such bad shape because you made a mistake, didn't you?"

Lilith growled again but did not say anything.

"That's right," Ambrose continued. "You made a mistake and now you're paying for it!"

"A small mistake," Lilith said.

"A huge mistake," Ambrose corrected.

Lilith looked away without answering.

Ambrose knew he had her. "That's right, isn't it? You made the biggest mistake you could possibly make. The one that's most fatal to you. You chose the wrong wolf to psychically bond with!"

"Maybe I did," Lilith said, staring at the ground. "But how was I supposed to know? Not like this came with any instructions!"

Ambrose laughed. "You know, with all your power and all your strength, you could actually be a horrific entity if you weren't such a buffoon! Because, out of all the wolves in this valley you could have possibly chosen, you chose the very one whose soul you could never take."

"I could if I wanted to," Lilith muttered under her breath.

"You could, sure," Ambrose answered, "but only if you didn't mind destroying yourself in the process… which would defeat the whole point, actually. So, really, you couldn't."

Ambrose pushed his face closer to Lilith's. "You couldn't absorb Lilly completely because she has a pure soul. You wanted to restore your powers by taking in absorbing another soul you're your own, making it a part of you. But, because you are so evil and corrupted, having a soul as pure as hers inside of you would be like a poison. Instead of restoring you, it would annihilate you! What you took to be weakness, what you thought would make her easy to drain, was in fact the thing that prevents you from ever draining her completely; her purity of heart."

* * *

As Winston and Tony were talking, they noticed someone coming up the path. To their relief, they saw that it was Kate, Lilly, Garth, Humphrey and Edgar.

"Kate! Lilly!" Winston shouted, overjoyed. "We thought something terrible had happened to you!"

"Garth, thank heavens you're safe!" Tony said, in a rare display of positive emotion. "I was afraid you'd gotten yourself killed!"

"Doesn't anybody want to say how glad they are to see _me_?" Humphrey asked.

"Not really, no," Edgar said beside him.

"Not you, _them!_" Humphrey said.

Winston walked over and hugged his two daughters. "Honey," he called to his mate, "Kate and Lilly are safe! You can stop killing Zack now!"

"Do I have to?" Eve said from inside the den.

"It would be nice, dear," Winston said. "Kate and Lilly have come home."

Eve immediately forgot about her victim and rushed out of the den to try and comfort her daughters. She now acted warm and motherly, nothing like she had been seconds before. Kate and Lilly looked past her into the den. Kate looked away in disgust and quickly put her paw over Lilly's eyes.

"Mom, dad, I thought we were going to try and avoid a repeat of the Bigfoot incident!" Kate said, trying to hide her alarm.

"Come now, dear," Winston said, "what your mother did to those Bigfoot-tracking wolves wasn't that bad. Just a few pints of blood from each one and then they were on their merry way."

"Actually, I wasn't talking about the trackers," Kate said with a nervous laugh. "That wasn't nearly as bad as what she did to Bigfoot."

Winston's eyes lit up as he remembered the full horror of that encounter. "Yes, well, there's a bright side to every catastrophe. Remember, we didn't go hungry for weeks after that."

Eve did not seem to notice that her mate and daughter were talking about her. She just smiled at both of her children, glad that they were safe and unharmed.

"Um, dad," Lilly said quietly. "Is Zack going to be okay?"

"Don't worry, dear," Winston said. "Your mother agreed not to kill him."

"It would have been too merciful," Eve said proudly, apparently taking note of the conversation for the first time. "But what about you two. Your father and I were scared half to death. We thought something terrible had happened to you!"

"Something terrible almost did happen to us!" Kate said.

Eve, Winston, and even Tony seemed horrified by the news.

"Oh, my poor babies! What happened?" Eve asked.

"Well, for one, both of us nearly got killed," Kate answered.

Eve once again switched from motherly concern to homicidal rage. "Who, who would do such a terrible thing? And how do they want their head mounted on our den wall?"

"The ghost nearly killed me," Kate explained, "and Lilly, well, she was nearly killed…"

"By me!" Edgar shouted as he strode forward proudly.

Kate closed her eyes in disbelief. She had wanted to keep Edgar from being mauled, but knew there was no hope of that now, since he seemed intent on taking responsibility.

"No need to thank me!" Edgar said. "Just doing my duty to the pack. Miss Lilly had become a danger to us all, so I ambushed her and applied a chokehold. And then I pounded her head against the ground, trying to knock the life out of her, and then…"

As Edgar went on describing this, he did not realize that Eve's furious snarl was revealing more and more teeth with each word. Humphrey and Garth, standing one either side of Edgar, slowly began sliding away.

"Just so we're clear, he he," Humphrey said nervously. "We actually stopped him from killing Lilly, he."

Garth hurriedly nodded his head. "Yeah, I punched him out!"

"Oh, but then why didn't you tear his throat out, then and there?" Eve questioned as she advanced toward the three.

Garth smiled as best he could, trying to hide his fear. "Um, because… I knew you'd want to do it?"

"Good answer," Eve said as she prepared to pounce on the rust-colored Beta between them.

"And then, after that, I tried to tear her throat out," Edgar continued. But then he noticed that the other two had moved away from him. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

And then he looked to see Eve flying toward him. "Oh," he said.

* * *

Down below the cliff, Lilith said, "It really doesn't matter now why I can't have her soul. I just can't! And that's why I need, now more than ever, what's hidden in that pit down there. It's the only thing that could restore me to full form."

Ambrose, now reclining comfortably, merely laughed. "And I suppose you want me to go and fetch it for you?"

Lilith narrowed her eyes. "It would be nice."

Ambrose shook his head. "No, Lilith, I'm not going to help you. You brought this all upon yourself, remember?"

"Spare me the lecture," Lilith said. "You'd really just let me waste away? Don't you have any mercy?"

"Mercy doesn't enter into it," Ambrose said. "You regularly murder others just because you want to relieve your boredom. Excuse me if my sympathy seems rather lacking."

"And who are you to judge me?" Lilith said with an arrogant smirk.

"It's not a question of judging you. It's just that you and I both know what type of power is located inside that vault. Not just the power of life and death but the power of heaven and earth, of above and below. With that power, you could practically become a god. And I'm just about to give it to someone who would use it to destroy the whole world?"

Lilith gave the hermit an 'as if' look. "I wouldn't destroy the whole world. That would be so boring! If I killed everything, I'd have nothing left to kill, and then how would I entertain myself? No, I'd probably leave some part of the world intact. Norway, maybe."

They heard a noise from the cliff above. Looking up, they saw a screaming Edgar being thrown off, only to be grabbed by Eve at the last minute and pulled back on the ledge. This repeated several times.

They paid no more attention to it.

"Fine, if you're not going to help me, then I guess I'll just have to find another entrance to that vault," Lilith said.

"And how are you going to get past the traps there?" Ambrose said. "I trust you've already encountered the one under your cave or else you wouldn't be here. All the others are just as bad."

"And who built those tunnels, anyway? You?" Lilith asked.

Ambrose shrugged. "I have no idea who built them or when. They were already here long before I was. And judging from what's hidden down there, these tunnels are beyond ancient. But I will venture to say that somebody went through a lot of trouble to make nobody else found what was down there. You have to figure that the traps they put down there are sufficient to prevent you from ever getting down there."

"Whatever," Lilith said, apparently not convinced that anything could be more than a match for her. "I was just going to give you a chance to play nice… but since you won't cooperate, I guess I'm just going to have to do things the painful way. For your friends, that is."

"They know nothing about the vault or the treasure within," Ambrose said. "They won't be able to help you."

Lilith smiled evilly. "Oh, I know you'd never tell them about any of that, just like you'd never tell them everything you know about me. And that just makes them easier to manipulate. When I get done with my next trick, you'll be begging to show me how to get into the pit. Bye!"

Lilith began to dissolve into mist. As she was leaving, Ambrose, calm as ever, said, "If this trick is as successful as your other plans, I doubt we have anything to worry about."

"Ignore him, just ignore him," Lilith told herself as she disappeared.

Once she was gone, Ambrose once again saw Eve dangling Edgar over the edge of the cliff, just threatening to drop him.

"I guess that's my cue," Ambrose said as he began walking up toward Winston and Eve's den. "Somebody's got to save that young Beta from that fierce beastie. Those wolves are incapable of staying out of trouble without me."

* * *

**Lilith is changing tactics, but what does she have up her sleeve this time? And what happens when Ambrose tries to save Edgar from Eve?**

**Read on.**


	15. Ambrose vs Eve

**Chapter 15. Winston, Eve, and Tony meet Ambrose. Things get even more intense this time as the pack must make a decision about who to trust in the struggle for Jasper. We're now getting very close to the conclusion, so things are going to start fitting together really soon.**

**As a side-note, I recently finished a crossover story between Alpha and Omega and the 1995 heroic incarnation of the Green Goblin, entitled "Only Wolves and Madmen." One of you was concerned that it wasn't getting enough exposure in the A&O crossovers sections and suggested that I should mention it here. So, check it out if you're at all interested and haven't already.**

**And now, back to our regularly-scheduled programming.**

* * *

"Ah! Ah! Ah!" Edgar screamed as Eve repeatedly bashed his head against a particularly large and sharp rock.

"Winston, could you stop her!" Tony whispered. "Edgar is one of the top Betas in my pack and I object to him being pulverized by your mate!"

"Eve, dear," Winston said. "Could you try not to kill Edgar too much? Tony doesn't like it."

"If he doesn't like it," Eve said with an evil growl, "then he can be next!"

Tony backed away. "No... no, it's fine, really. She can keep killing my Beta as long as she wants. I mean, what are in-laws for?"

"Good call," Eve said without stopping her abuse of Edgar.

"We have to stop her!" Lilly whispered to Kate. "Even though he tried to kill me, I don't want him to be killed."

"I know," Kate said, "we have to do something." She looked to Humphrey and Garth who silently agreed.

But the four of them did not know how to do this. If Humphrey or Garth approached, they'd probably also be attacked. It seemed best for Kate or Lilly to try and talk sense into their mother. They stepped forward.

"Um, mom?" Lilly said quietly. "Do you think you could… stop beating up Edgar?"

But Eve was so involved that she did not seem to hear her younger daughter. So Kate tried to speak to her. "Mom, it's okay. Really. You can stop mauling him now…"

"Kate, Lilly, mommy's busy turning someone's brains into paste. Leave her alone for now…"

Kate and Lilly realized that their words weren't going to have much of an effect. As they were trying to think up another course of action, they heard a thundering voice from along the path, "Stop!"

Everyone looked to see Ambrose coming toward them, specifically toward Eve.

"Unhand that young wolf," Ambrose commanded.

Eve just looked at him. "And who are you to tell me to do that?"

"Missy, I was old before you were ever born," Ambrose said dryly as he stopped at the edge of the cliff. "I think I can speak with the authority of experience."

Eve looked over her shoulder at Winston and Tony. "Who is this guy?"

Both of the other pack leaders shrugged. "Oh, him?" Kate said. "He's just the guy who's buddies with the ghost who is trying to kill us all. And he tried to blow up my tail."

Eve now dropped Edgar. Her rage was now focused entirely on the old hermit. Edgar, looking like he was about ready to break into several pieces, crawled away with what remained of his strength. Eve approached Ambrose and began to circle toward him. Then, as if out of nowhere, she lunged for him.

Ambrose closed his eyes as she approached. Then, in the split-second before she made contact, Ambrose sidestepped. Everyone gasped as Eve went flying over the cliff and down toward the valley below. But then, just before she was about to fall out of reach, Ambrose put his paw out and grabbed her. With a great show of strength, he easily lifted her up and tossed her toward the den.

Edgar and Zack, trying to limp away before receiving any more injuries, were in for another nasty surprise as Eve landed right on top of them.

"Now, would everybody just listen to me!" Ambrose said. "Lilith has got more tricks up her sleeve. She's not taking a vacation while we're up here fighting."

Eve got up. "I hope I didn't hurt you, young lady," Ambrose said politely.

Eve, flattered with being called young, forgot her previous rage and smiled. "No, not at all. The road-kill broke my fall."

Winston stepped forward. "Does anybody mind telling me what's going on? I'm the pack leader; I'm not used to being as confused as this."

"Well, dad," Kate said. "To start with… Lilly's been possessed by a ghost, a ghost which looks just like her."

"Except that she's black with red eyes," Lilly added. "And she cursed Kate too. But then Kate tried to fight her."

"And got knocked through a tree," Humphrey remarked.

"Don't tell them that!" Kate said, embarrassed.

"And then I found the little lady and took her and her friends up to my den to heal her, Ambrose said. "Then I went back down to get the table the ghostie was imprisoned in. She's a hellhound, by the way. Calls herself Lilith, after your young daughter here. She's been trying to do everything to kill your two daughters. Not with any success, obviously."

"And she tried to steal my soul!" Lilly burst out. Eve nearly fainted.

"Everybody, everybody, just calm down," Winston said. "I'm getting on in years and I can't make out random frantic explanations like I used to. Now, let's just take it easy. Lilly, dear, you said the ghost tried to take your soul."

"If I get my hands on her, I'll make her die a second time…" Eve muttered.

"Yeah, dad," Lilly said. "But when she tried to do it, there was this bright light. And then somehow I realized that she couldn't harm me and I… somehow managed to tell her to leave me alone. And then she disappeared."

Ambrose nodded. "Lilith is weak now. What Lilly did managed to restore most of the life-energy that Lilith had stolen. Lilith now knows that she can't take Lilly's soul."

"Why not?" Kate, Lilly, Winston, and Eve said together.

Ambrose smiled at Lilly. "Because, little lady, your soul is too pure. If she were to take it into herself, it would be like a poison for her. She'd destroy herself."

"Oh," Lilly said quietly. Garth came over and hugged her in relief.

"So," Ambrose continued. "Because yon Lilith cannot take Lilly's soul, she can't replenish herself. That's why she's got to look for other ways to do it."

"How do you know any of this?" Tony said, clearly suspicious.

"Oh, I talked to her on the way up," Ambrose said.

"She was here?" Winston and Eve cried in alarm.

"Don't worry, she's gone now," Ambrose replied.

Kate snarled. "Here we go again! Why do you always keep these things from us?"

"I didn't. I told you just now, didn't I?"

"But you didn't bother to mention it when you broke away, did you? Since I'm sure that was what caught your eye down there."

"Is she always like this?" Ambrose said. "With all the yelling and the suspicion?"

"She takes after her mother," Winston remarked.

"And besides," Kate said, "if she can't take Lilly's soul, then there's nothing she can do to replenish herself! You said it yourself!"

Ambrose looked away. "Well, not nothing, no. There is one thing which she can use. But don't worry yourselves about that."

"Come on," Humphrey said. "You can get us all worked up about the big scary ghost finding another way to recharge herself and then tell us that it's nothing to worry about. Now we're going to worry more than ever!"

"Really, just forget about it," Ambrose said.

Winston was not going to take any more of this. "If you know something that directly affects the safety of the pack, you had better tell us what it is. Otherwise, I have to agree with my daughter about not trusting you. We don't know who you are or where you come from, so how can we being to trust you?"

"Yeah," Tony added, "are you Eastern or Western Pack, Alpha or Omega?"

Ambrose shrugged. "I've been on my own for so long that I've forgotten."

"Well, if you're not going to tell us what you know, then you're as much an enemy as this Lilith," Winston said, having suddenly become very forceful. "And if you're an enemy, you shall be treated as such."

"Look," Ambrose said, "there is something here. In Jasper, there is something hidden which Lilith could potentially use to restore herself. And she's going to stop at nothing until she gets it."

"And what is this thing?" Kate said.

Ambrose shook his head. "Your little mind could not begin to even comprehend it."

"Try me," Kate said flatly.

"All you need to know is that it is safe. Lilith will never be able to get at it. It is impossible for her to get down there."

"Down where?" Garth said.

"It doesn't matter!" Ambrose said, his voice rising almost to anger for the first time since any of them had known him. "She will never get it, so you don't need to worry! I just need to protect Kate and Lilly from any more harm until I can figure out how to lock Lilith back in her tablet. If you just let me do that, we'll all be fine."

Winston shook his head. "Maybe your intentions are good. But if you aren't willing to trust us with whatever you're hiding, then we cannot trust you. As such, we cannot work together."

Ambrose looked around him and saw that everyone else agreed with Winston. He shook his head. "Fools, you're all fools! But I see I'm not going to persuade any of you. So I guess the only thing to do is to prove it by figuring out how to get rid of Lilith. I'll need to head back to my den and see if anybody on Hermitnet has decoded symbols. Maybe then I can trap her in the tablet again."

"If you can get rid of her, than we shall stand by you," Winston said. "But you must first prove that you can."

Ambrose nodded. "Right. Well, then I guess I better get to that. I trust you'll be able to keep yourselves out of trouble until I get back?"

Without waiting for an answer, he set out. Walking fast and humming a tune, as though the pack's anger was completely forgotten, he was soon out of sight. Kate and Winston both sighed in relief.

High above Eve and Winston's den, on another cliff, Lilith looked on. She smiled. "You've all played right into my hands. Now's the time to end this."

* * *

**What is Lilith going to do now?**

Read on.


	16. Things Fall Apart

**It's Chapter 16, and now Lilith's final plan is about to unfold! She hasn't been having very much luck recently, but how will she do this time? And, more importantly, what will she do? Can our heroes overcome her newest scheme?**

* * *

"What are we going to do now, Winston?" Eve asked, in one of the rare moments where she demonstrated worry.

"We have to do something," Winston said. "Maybe if we could find this… this thing that Ambrose mentioned, we could use it against Lilith."

"But Ambrose said it was too dangerous for anyone to use," Garth said. "If we used it ourselves, we might just make things worse."

"I'd hardly trust anything Ambrose says," Tony responded, "but we don't even know where to look for this thing. And if the spirit-or-whatever can't get to it, what hope do we have?"

Now Edgar, despite being badly injured, spoke up. "How many times do I have to tell you people that there are no such things as ghosts?"

Garth turned to him in surprise. "What? After all that's happened, you're still skeptical? Still?"

Edgar shrugged. Then he noticed that Tony was glaring at him. As leader of the Eastern pack, Tony did not tolerate any of his subordinates to talk like that to him.

Edgar smiled nervously. "Of course, I wasn't talking about you, sir. I mean, if you say there's a ghost, then there's a ghost. Even if there is no ghost."

Instead of calming Tony, this just made him growl in rage.

"Smooth going," Humphrey whispered to Edgar.

"I can't help it," Edgar said. "I always blurt out highly inappropriate things when I'm nervous!"

Winston, wanting to get the discussion back on track, turned to his eldest daughter. "Kate, what do you think? Kate?"

Kate was sitting behind them, not paying any attention at all. Instead, she just kept staring at Lilly, who was sitting beside Garth. Lilly also kept looking back in her direction.

In Kate's mind, she saw and heard Lilith standing beside her. "Just look at Lilly and how useless she is!" Lilith mocked.

Kate didn't answer. She tried to keep her focus on the discussion, but the Lilith illusion would not stop talking.

"Without Lilly, you never would have gotten in this mess in the first place," Lilith said with an evil laugh. "If she hadn't broken my tablet."

'That's not true!' Kate thought.

"Yes it is," Lilith said. "After all, if you had been there instead of her, you wouldn't have gotten so scared that you broke the tablet. No Alpha would."

'No… I wouldn't,' Kate thought, 'but Lilly is different. She's gentle…'

"More like incompetent," Lilith mocked. "You and I both know that your dear sister could never do anything right. Your family should have had another Alpha just like you, not some useless Omega. Admit it, if Lilly had actually gotten into Alpha school like the daughter of the pack-leaders is supposed to, she would have been smart enough not to cause all these problems for the pack."

'Lilly just wasn't born to be an Alpha,' Kate thought. 'It's not her fault!'

Lilith seemed to only become happier each time Kate defended Lilly. "Oh really? Maybe if she applied herself like you did, she would not have let her whole family down so badly. Don't you ever get angry with the way that you have to do all the work for the pack and she just gets to be lazy all day get everything handed to her? She has all the benefits of being part of the ruling family without any of the responsibilities!"

Kate had to fight hard to keep herself from responding to these taunts. But Lilith was not going to stop. "As it is, I don't think she even deserves to be a part of your family. If I were you, I'd get rid of her at the first opportunity."

Meanwhile, Lilly kept looking back over at Kate. The reason was that another Lilith illusion was standing beside Lilly.

"Look at her," this Lilith said, pointing at Kate. "Just sitting there, like she thinks she's so perfect! You know she blames you for all this, right?"

'Kate wouldn't do that,' Lilly thought.

"Of course she would," Lilith responded. "And she does. She thinks it's all your fault. Since it can't ever be perfect Kate's fault, everything has to be clumsy Lilly's!"

'But… I didn't mean to break the tablet! I didn't!'

Lilith smiled. "You know that and I know that, but Kate… she's an Alpha and they don't understand things like that. They just see it as weakness. And to have a sister who is so weak, that's a real embarrassment."

Lilly shook her head. 'No, Kate…'

"Kate hates you!" Lilith barked. "She hates you for being such a failure to the family and such a burden on the pack! She always did and always will!

'No, no, no,' Lilly was having difficulty holding back tears.

Lilith laughed. "Actually, she wishes that I had just killed you when I had the chance. Then she wouldn't have to put up with her failure Omega of a sister anymore!"

'You don't know that!' Lilly thought as tears escaped her eyes. 'You can't possibly know that!'

Lilith looked Lilly in the face and grinned in delight. She was going to enjoy what she said next. "Yes I can! She told me herself! She told me that she thinks the whole of Jasper would be better off if you had never been born!"

Now Lilly burst into tears. "No, no, that can't be true! She wouldn't say that! It can't be true!"

Everyone, with the exception of Kate, turned their attention to Lilly, not knowing the reason for her strange outburst.

"Lilly, dear, what's the matter?" Eve asked with motherly concern.

The Lilith tormenting Lilly now disappeared, but the one troubling Kate remained. This Lilith smiled. "Showtime," she whispered.

Kate was still focused on keeping Lilith out of her mind. But Lilith sensed that the Alpha was having difficulty staying calm. So, she began to put the finishing touches on her plan.

Lilly began to speak. "Well, um, the thing is… it was... I was just worried because–"

Lilith continued, "Like I was saying, just get rid of the dead weight next opportunity you get. No one would even notice if she was gone, you know, so just do it. Grab her and, when nobody's looking, just tear her throat out! Then throw the body to the vegetarians."

For Kate, this was the last straw. She could ignore all of Lilith's taunts, but when Lilith began threatening Lilly and encouraging Kate to kill her, the ghost had gone too far. Now very angry, Kate looked at the ghost and yelled, "Why don't you just shut up?"

Lilith smiled and disappeared. Kate realized now that everybody had fallen silent. She looked around; they were all staring at her in shock. The most shocked of all, and the most hurt, was Lilly. She now started crying even more than before, tears flowing freely down her white snout and landing on the ground.

Kate realized that she had yelled just as Lilly was speaking. Since only Kate could see Lilith, to everybody else, it looked like Kate was yelling at her younger sister.

"Lilly, I didn't–" Kate began.

"It's true! You do hate me!" Lilly cried.

"No, Lilly, I don't hate you," Kate said, trying to figure out a way to explain herself. "It's just that I was trying to tell Lilith–"

"See, you hate me! You think I'm a failure!" Lilly cried. "She told me! She told me you told her that you thought I should have never been born!"

Garth quickly hugged Lilly, who cried into his shoulder. He glared at Kate. Winston and Eve did not look pleased with her either, though it was harder for them to take sides since both wolves were their daughters.

"Everybody, listen!" Kate said frantically. "Lilly is my sister and I love her! I would never say that about her! You guys have to believe me!"

"Of course we believe you," Humphrey said, coming up beside her. "Everybody knows how close you and Lilly are. Nobody thinks you would ever want to get rid of her!"

"I think that," Edgar noted.

Humphrey glared at him.

"I'm blurting out highly-inappropriate stuff again, aren't I?" Edgar said, somewhat embarrassed.

Lilly now tried to talk between her sobs. "You always thought I was a failure! Even as pups, you used to laugh at me because you got into Alpha School and I didn't!"

"I was, what, six months old?" Kate said. "I was too young to really think about how it might hurt you!"

"And you think that without me, you wouldn't have to go through all of this trouble! You all wouldn't be in danger!"

Kate shook her head. "Lilly, you didn't put us in danger. If she hadn't tricked you into breaking that tablet, she would have found somebody else. It was only a matter of time. Besides, you didn't know to be cautious, you're not an Alpha."

Kate realized that she had misspoken as soon as she said it. She did not know why she said it, since she did not mean it, but what Lilith had been saying must have still been on her mind and she repeated it accidentally. But it was too late to take it back.

Lilly pulled away from Garth and walked up to her sister. Even though she was still sobbing, Kate realized that there was something else in her eyes. Lilly was angry. Kate could count on one paw the number of times she had seen Lilly angry.

But now Lilly was really angry. "I told you! I told you!" she yelled. "See, even you said it! I'm not good enough… because I'm not an Alpha! You think I'm just weak, spineless Lilly! Well, if you all think that, I won't be a drain on you anymore!"

And then she turned and began to walk away.

"But, Lilly," Kate called after her.

"Why don't _you_ just shut up, Kate?" Lilly said without looking back.

But then Humphrey ran in front of her and cut her off. He grabbed Lilith by the shoulder and brought her back to Kate.

"Guys, this is just what Lilith wants!" he said. "Can't you see that she's trying to divide us?"

"Humphrey's right," Kate said. "She wants us to fight each other so that we're not strong enough to keep her away. Don't you see, Lilly?"

"How can I see anything when I'm just a useless, gullible Omega?" Lilly said in disgust. She then turned and continued walking away.

Kate and Humphrey just stood there and watched her go. Both were in too much shock to do anything.

"She can't go out there alone!" Winston said. "She'll be too vulnerable to Lilith's attack!"

"I'll go after her," Garth said. "Maybe I can convince her to come back."

He followed Lilly. As he passed Kate and Humphrey, he looked at them over his shoulder. "Thanks a lot, Kate," he said, obviously angry with her as well.

"Hey, at least I tried to stop her!" Humphrey said. "Doesn't anybody want to give me a little credit?"

Garth was surprised at this. "Um, yeah… Good try, Humphrey, I guess."

He then went to catch up with Lilly.

Humphrey smiled. "You know, Garth's not so bad once you get to know him. Kate, where are you going?"

"I need to take a walk," Kate said. "Clear my head. I'll be back in a little while."

"Okay," Humphrey said. "I'll come with you."

Kate sighed. "Thanks, but I'd rather be alone."

Humphrey was once again shocked. "But that's what Lilith wants! You said it yourself!"

Kate shook her head. "I'll be fine. I just need some time alone."

"Okay, if you're sure," Humphrey said. He didn't like it, and neither did Kate's parents, but they all recognized that Kate was feeling very bad about what she had unintentionally done to Lilly and needed time to think things over. So they let her go.

"Okay, I guess I'll just hang out here," Humphrey said. Then he looked at Winston, Eve, and Tony. He realized that these were not people he particularly wanted to spend bonding time with. "Yeah, I think I'll take off too," he said as he left.

Now the three pack leaders were left alone, with the exception of Zack and Edgar.

"Well, if it's any consolation," Edgar said to Eve. "Miss Lilly is pretty useless. So you can't blame Miss Kate for saying it. Though you should blame her for a lot of other things."

"Not a good thing to say, dude!" Zack whispered.

"Oh, I'm doing it again, aren't I?" Edgar said. He looked back at Eve and saw the rage starting to appear in her face.

"Well, I really must be going," Edgar said. "Those caribou thieves aren't going to catch themselves!"

Before he could say more, both he and Zack were sent flying through the air by a wild haymaker from Eve. They flew off the cliff and disappeared into the trees of the valley below.

Now the three pack leaders were truly alone.

"I don't like this, Winston," Eve said. "Something bad's going to happen. I can just feel it!"

"I know, dear, I know," Winston replied.

On the ridge high above them, Lilith laughed quietly to herself. "Just as I planned it. They're all practically alone! Now they won't be able to stop what's coming next!"

And then she dissolved into a black mist.

* * *

**Lilith has managed to divide our heroes, but what does she have in store for them now? Who is she going to go after and how will it serve her dark purposes?**

**Read on.**


	17. Lilith Strikes Again!

**I typed most of this up late last night since I couldn't sleep because my air-conditioning broke down. Congratulations, you all get to profit from my suffering. **

**(That last sentence was sarcastic. I'm actually kind-of glad that I had to stay up and do this. Otherwise I don't think I would have got it done today.) **

**The chapters are getting longer as we get near the end. This one is a really important chapter, and I think you'll see why when you read it.**

* * *

Garth and Lilly walked down through the valley toward the forest. Lilly was busy talking about how Kate never appreciated her. Garth was silent; while he suspected his mate was wrong about her sister, he knew that Lilly needed to vent.

"And then there was the time that she pushed me into the mud! Do you know how long it takes to get the stains out of white fur?" Lilly said. "That was when I was two months old."

"Lilly," Garth interrupted, "do you keep a mental record of everything bad Kate has ever done to you?"

"Yeah," Lilly said. "Is there a problem with that?"

"No, just wondering," Garth said, pretending that he did not think it was kind-of weird.

So Lilly continued with the story of every prank that Kate had pulled on her when they were pups. But Garth was thinking. He had been as mad at Kate as Lilly was but now he had to give her the benefit of the doubt. Humphrey had been right; everybody knew how much Kate loved Lilly. Besides, Kate's story made a lot of sense given recent events.

After listening to Lilly for a while longer, Garth decided that it was a good time to suggest this to her. He knew he had to phrase it in a way that wouldn't hurt Lilly's feelings by suggesting that she was wrong.

"You know," he said, "maybe you're being just a little too hard on Kate. I get that she's really obsessed with being a great Alpha and that it's hard to deal with sometimes, but I don't thinks that she hates you. You're her sister and that's more important to her than what your rank in the pack is."

Lilly paused and then nodded. "I know. I was just so angry before. What Lilith said really got to me. I know I shouldn't have let it, but I did. I should go and apologize… but I need some more time to myself. Everything has just got me so scared."

"Hey, we can take as long as you need," Garth said. "I understand."

"Don't listen to him!" came a voice from Lilly's left.

She looked over in surprise to find Lilith walking beside her.

"What are you doing here? Go away!" Lilly said, trying to stay quiet so that Garth wouldn't notice.

"Yes because we can't have him worry about you, can we?" Lilith mocked. "It's not like anybody else does. Don't tell me you're ready to forgive Kate after everything she's done to you! She doesn't deserve forgiveness! She deserves punishment!"

"You never stop talking, do you?" Lilly said innocently. So innocently that Lilith couldn't tell if it was a taunt or a genuine question.

Garth was watching this. He was smart enough to figure out what's going on. "She's here, isn't she?" he said.

"Yeah," Lilly said.

"Okay," Garth said, trying to sound upbeat for Lilly's sake, "Lilly, just remember, she's not real. It's just an illusion. It can't hurt you!"

"I know, Garth, I know," Lilly said. "She's still trying to turn me against Kate."

"Don't worry, Lilly, I'm here," Garth said reassuringly. "If she starts getting to you, we can talk it out. It'll be fine."

Lilly smiled and kissed Garth on the cheek. The illusionary Lilith suddenly disappeared.

Nearby, the real Lilith was watching them from a safe distance. "I'm never going to get to her with Loverboy there," she muttered. "I need to get him out of the way somehow. But first, why don't I pay a final – and fatal –visit to my least favorite female Alpha?"

And then she disappeared into mist.

* * *

Kate walked around the perimeter of the Western Pack territory. Even though she knew that it wasn't her turn for border detail, the patrol would give her time to think.

"I guess I really messed things up this time," Kate said. She kicked a rock in frustration. "I'm Head Alpha! I should never let this happen!"

"I'll say. It's like you're the worst Alpha this pack has ever seen!"

"I know, I can't believe that I… Hey, that's not my voice!"

Kate darted around to see Lilith standing behind her.

"What do you want?" Kate said, disgusted.

"Didn't I tell you, Katie, that you and me had a score to settle?" Lilith said. "And considering that you've pretty much ruined everybody else's lives, I'd say you might as well just give up your own."

Kate shook her head. "Oh no, I'm not going to listen to that! I'm still Head Alpha – even if I might make mistakes from time to time – and I've got a responsibility to this pack! I won't give in to despair!"

"Suit yourself, Kate," Lilith said. Then she disappeared.

Suddenly, Lilith appeared behind her. "Boo!" she yelled.

But Kate wasn't in the mood for games. She just elbowed the image, which disappeared.

"Ha, another illusion," Kate said. "Why am I not surprised?"

Then she suddenly saw ten Liliths circling her, each with burning eyes, each ready to pounce.

Kate rolled her eyes. "Same old Lilith. Same old illusions. I already know that they can't hurt me."

"No, but I can!" Lilith shouted. And suddenly, Kate was sent flying into a nearby boulder, shattering it. The real Lilith had delivered an uppercut.

"Payback time," Lilith remarked.

Kate, despite feeling like she had dislocated something, jumped back up. She and Lilith circled one another.

"This is how it ends, Katie," Lilith said. "You might as well grovel in fear before I destroy you. It won't save you, but it'll give me a good laugh."

"I'm not going to grovel," Kate said. "You've tried to cost me everything. My friends, my family, my sanity, even my life. I've had enough. Do whatever you want, but I'm tired of being scared of you. Throw anything at me… I'm sure I can take it!"

Lilith laughed. "Oh, like that inspiring speech is going to save you? Well, check this out!"

And Lilith ran toward Kate, about to deliver another uppercut. Kate prepared to jump out of the way, hoping to take the hellhound by surprise at the last moment. Just as Lilith was about to connect, Kate leapt out of the way and elbowed her in the back of the head. Lilith fell to the ground, just as Edgar had earlier.

Kate didn't waste time. She ran over, ready for another round. Lilith got up and growled menacingly.

"I let my guard down, but never again!" Lilith yelled. "Now you will suffer for that!"

"Try me," Kate responded. "I'm not afraid of you."

Lilith let out an evil bark and threw a punch. Kate prepared to dodge but, before she could, Lilith suddenly stopped in her tracks. She pulled back her fist.

"You really don't fear me, do you?" Lilith asked, her face showing real confusion.

"Not even a little," Kate said.

"Fine, whatever," Lilith said, avoiding Kate's gaze. "I don't have time for this! I've got better places to be!" And before Kate could stop her, she disappeared into mist.

Kate stood there, confused. "That was too easy." She did not know what to think, but by chance, she looked down at her shoulder. Her jaw dropped; the black paw-mark was gone!

She suddenly heard rustling in the woods. She turned around, expecting another attack.

"Who's there?" she called out.

To her surprise, Ambrose appeared.

"Kate?" he said. "What are you doing out here by yourself? You could be in serious danger this far from home! What if Lilith was to come after you?"

"She already did," Kate said. "She was really going to kill me this time."

"But then, how did you survive?" Ambrose asked. "And where is that black mark?" Suddenly, realization dawned on him. "Oh, you finally figured it out, didn't you?"

Kate could not figure out what he meant. "I didn't figure out anything. I have no idea why she disappeared. I just said I wasn't afraid of her anymore and she left."

Ambrose smiled proudly. "Exactly." When he saw that Kate still did not understand, he decided to help her grasp his meaning. "Tell me, how does Lilith's curse kill its victims?"

"It causes them to see illusions and go mad, eventually dying from fear," Kate said.

Ambrose nodded. "Exactly. You see, Lilith is a creature of fear. She thrives on the fear she creates in her victims. Even though she has the strength and power to easily destroy mortal beings, it is useless to her if they don't fear her. That's how I was always able to keep her from killing me. All you have to do to make her powerless is to refuse to fear her."

"That's it?" Kate said. "I just don't have to be afraid and the curse is broken? If it's that easy, why didn't you just tell us that in the beginning?"

Ambrose shook his head. "When was the last time you stopped being afraid of something just because somebody told you that it was nothing to be afraid of? That never works! You wouldn't have believed me if I told you. It was something you had to figure out on your own."

"But how come you weren't afraid?" Kate said. "I mean, even before you knew what Lilith was, you weren't afraid of her."

"Listen," Ambrose said, "I've lived a very long time and I've journeyed all around the world. Compared to the things I've seen, Lilith has all the menace of a Care Bear. I find it hard to be afraid of anything these days."

"But if Lilith's no longer after me," Kate said. "That means she must be after… oh no, Lilly!"

* * *

Lilly and Garth continued to walk through the grey woods. Unknown to either, Lilith was silently trailing them, waiting for an opportunity to split them up. And then the perfect opportunity came along.

Out of the forest bushes ran Edgar who, despite still showing the marks of Eve's affection, seemed to be in fit shape. He was calling after Garth.

"Edgar, what are you doing out here?" Garth asked in surprise.

Edgar panted as he stopped in front of Garth. "Sir, sir, I caught the caribou-thieves! The ones stealing from our pack's supply of caribou. I apprehended them! I thought you should know."

Lilly continued walking. She was so deep in thought that she didn't realize that Garth was not beside her. Seeing this, Lilith laughed to herself and stealthily ran past Garth and Edgar, following Lilly.

"Um, that's great, Edgar," Garth said, not knowing how else to respond. "But I've really got something more important right now."

He began to leave but Edgar grabbed onto his shoulder. "You'll never guess who it was, sir," Edgar said. "It was–"

"Lilly!" Garth yelled, realizing that his mate was not beside him. He looked all around but couldn't see her. He picked up her scent and followed it into the bushes, but he could already tell that she had gotten far away.

"No, Miss Lilly didn't steal the caribou," Edgar said, not noticing his superior's disappearance. "Actually it was… Um, sir, where did you go?"

* * *

"How could you two possibly be so muddleheaded?" Ambrose said after Kate finished telling of her trouble with Lilly. "Don't you realize that Lilith wanted to get each of you alone?" They were both running across the valley, hoping to catch up with Lilly before it was too late.

"Yeah, I kinda figured," Kate said. "But with everything going on, things just got out of hand."

"You really can't do anything right without me, can you?" Ambrose remarked.

Kate cocked her eyebrow. "Well, maybe if you let us in to more of your secrets, we wouldn't be so clueless about what we're doing! Don't I get some credit for figuring out not to fear Lilith on my own?"

"Took you long enough," Ambrose murmured.

Kate was getting angry again, but managed to control herself. Letting this degenerate into insults would not do any good for anybody. "Look, I still think that having gone through this entitles us to know a little more about what we're facing. At least, we should know what this mysterious object hidden under our home is, since we're the ones that have to live on top of it."

Ambrose stopped suddenly, so suddenly that Kate initially ran right past him before catching herself and coming back.

"That's fair enough," he said. "Let's go back to your parents' den and I'll explain that to you and them."

"But what about Lilly?" Kate said.

"For all we know, Lilly might have returned home already. We should at least check it out before jumping to conclusions."

Kate's instincts told her that her sister was in serious trouble, but she had to admit that Ambrose made a good point. She agreed to return home.

* * *

"Garth, where are you?" Lilly said. She was looking all around her. She was lost and had no idea where she was.

She heard a noise behind her. "Hello, is somebody there?"

"Just your favorite malevolent entity," was the reply. Lilly's blood ran cold. She turned around. There she saw Lilith, smiling evilly.

"Hello, Lilly," Lilith said. "Nice day for a stroll, isn't it? Well, maybe not after I get done with you."

Lilly started to shake, but she tried to be brave. "But you can't… you can't kill me!"

Lilith laughed. "Who said anything about killing you? No, I've got bigger plans for you than that. Much bigger plans."

* * *

**What are Lilith's plans for Lilly? Is Garth going to reach her in time? What is hidden below Jasper Park? And just who was responsible for stealing the caribou? (Because out of all of them, that is the question you really want answered.)**

**Read on.**


	18. Revelations and Choices

**Okay, I've finally got this one out. Apologies to everyone for taking so long but, since this one is so important, I didn't want to post it until I had gotten it just right. So, without further ado, here it is.**

* * *

"Okay, we're all here," Kate said. "Now spill!"

Kate was mostly right. She and Humphrey were there, their parents were there, and Tony was there. Lilly and Garth were not there.

Ambrose looked at all of them and smiled. "As I promised Kate, I will tell you what I know of the secret hidden under this here park. For, I wasn't being completely honest when I mentioned the places where hellhounds are likely to be found haunting. While they haunt crossroads and moors, it is also a known fact that they can be found in the general vicinity of buried treasure."

"Buried treasure?" Kate said skeptically.

Ambrose nodded. "Indeed. That is one of the reasons Lilith has for so long stuck to her cave. She can sense that there is a great treasure buried somewhere below. And she's determined to find it."

"Well, what is it?" Kate said.

Ambrose smiled. "Tell me, have you ever heard of something called..."

* * *

Lilly slowly woke up. "Eh, what happened?" she said, not remembering or realizing where she was.

As she looked around, however, she began to realize what trouble she was in. She was in some sort of a cave, looking like Lilith's but much darker and larger. Stalactites and stalagmites were all around her, seeming to enclose her in a prison. She tried to turn and find an exit, but instead found that she could not move. She looked down to see her paws encased in ice. Now looking all around, she saw ice everywhere, frozen onto all the rocks.

"Where am I?" she said to herself.

"Such a dreary little place, isn't it?" she heard a voice say. To her horror, she saw Lilith walking toward the bars.

"It's so cold and frozen," Lilith said. "But I like it hot!" She laughed at her own joke, causing little sparks of fire to fly from her mouth and nostrils, melting any ice they landed on.

"Wh… what are we doing down here?" Lilly said, fearful.

"Well," Lilith said, "this… charming place is close to something I need… and you're going to help me get it!"

"Wh… what do you need?"

"Wh… wh… why does it matter so much to you, sniveling girl?" Lilith shot back, mocking Lilly's way of stuttering when she was afraid.

Lilly quickly tried to hide her face under her paws but she couldn't because they were stuck in the ice. Lilith laughed at her.

"If you must know," Lilith said, "what I'm looking for is what I believe you call the Philosopher's Stone!"

* * *

"Let me explain," Ambrose said, seeing the confused looks on everybody's faces. "You may have heard talk of the Philosopher's Stone as a type of substance which, when properly applied, can heal any wound, turn base metals into silver and gold, and even bring about eternal life."

Still blank looks all around, but this time Ambrose did not seem to notice. If he did notice, he clearly did not care.

"That's what you always hear about, anyway," Ambrose continued, "but in reality, those are all just parlor tricks compared to what the Philosopher's Stone can really do."

"Ooh, suspense!" Humphrey said. "Now he's just waiting for somebody to ask him what it can really do."

"Dang, you ruined my set-up!" Ambrose joked.

But then his face grew serious, even severe. "The Stone can do all these things mentioned because it is the quintessence, the combination of all the elements, and contains all the power of above and below. Were anyone able to achieve the Stone and utilize its full power, they could remake the Universe in their own image. Whatever they wanted to do, they could do. In short, the person who can use the Stone would become a god."

Ambrose looked around. Everyone seemed stunned. Kate and her parents were trying to seem calm, but his sharp eyes could tell that they were suitably shocked and disturbed.

"Oh, is that all," Humphrey tried to joke. "And here I was thinking it was something serious. But if the only thing Lilith can do is become a god and destroy the Universe, well, then I guess there's nothing to worry about, am I right?"

Kate elbowed him. "I was just trying to lighten the mood!" Humphrey explained.

But Kate was not interested in his explanation. She had already turned her attention back to Ambrose. "But where did this stone come from?" she asked. "And how did it get under Jasper."

Ambrose nodded. "I'll explain that as far as I'm able, though even I don't know everything about it. But this is what I do know. It was created."

"Who would create such a terrible thing?" Kate asked, obviously not liking where the conversation was going.

Ambrose answered, "There was, at the dawn of history, an Egyptian king, a king who some say was more than human. He was the one who first discovered how to create the Stone of the Philosophers and it was he who first used it to make his kingdom the greatest on Earth.

"But he recognized that, in the wrong hands, the Stone could lay waste to the whole world. Thus. He guarded the secret jealously and never let any but his most trusted disciples learn it. Then he hid the Stone and proclaimed that the method of its creation would be passed down in secret only to a select few considered worthy enough to possess it. And so it goes down to the present day."

"But how did the Stone get to Jasper?" Winston asked.

Ambrose shrugged. "That part of the tale, I don't know. I don't even know if it was the original Stone or another that had been created later. And I don't know who hid it there, though they must have had access to that secret knowledge of the Philosopher's Stone, which they also used to create the system of traps and tunnels which hide it. The system is really quite ingenious, since it taps into the local reservoirs to flood the whole tunnel complex as soon as anyone gets to a certain point."

"So there's no way to get to it?" Kate asked.

Ambrose smiled deviously. "Oh, there is a way. But that's the most beautiful part. The flooding can be stopped but not in a way that you could discover on your own. There's no trial and error. To stop the flooding, you have to already have learned how to do so. The only ones who can get down into the vault are those who already know how."

"And who would know that?" Eve said. "It's not like any of us have any experience with flooded treasure pits."

Ambrose chuckled. "Presumably, only the original builders and their descendants would know how to do so. So, you see why Lilith, with all of her power, can never reach the Philosopher's Stone."

Everybody was silent as they pondered this. Suddenly, something occurred to Kate. "Do you know how to get down there?" she asked Ambrose.

Ambrose grinned mischievously as he turned away from Kate. "Of course. In this long life of mine, I have discovered many things otherwise hidden. Including how to get down to that vault."

"But… that means… that you could use the Philosopher's Stone!" Eve said, a hint of alarm in her voice.

Ambrose's grin widened. "Why, I suppose that I could…"

"But, if only you know how to get down there," Kate said, "what could Lilith's new plan be? It doesn't seem like she has any chance."

Ambrose once again grew somber. "She might not be able to reach the Stone, but that doesn't mean she won't try. Creatures like Lilith always have more cards to play… because they always cheat."

* * *

"What I'm proposing is simple," Lilith said, pacing in front of Lilly, who was still behind the cavern-bars. "Just go back home like a good little girl and get the secret out of that doddering old fool Ambrose! You see, I managed to find this cavern which leads down to the vault, but I know if I try to get further, water will just flood the whole place. Get Ambrose to turn it off and your job is done."

"But he would never do that!" Lilly protested. "He won't give up the Stone for anything!"

Lilith laughed. "Don't count on it. He might not give it up to me – and he knows that if I threatened to kill you I'd be bluffing – but I think he's got a soft spot for you. And besides, you're so weak and innocent. He would never suspect that anything is wrong. It's full-proof!"

"And… and what if I… if I refuse to do it?" Lilly said quietly. "You… you can't hurt me, remember?"

Lilith gave her an 'oh really' look. But then she smiled. "I suppose it's my fault for assuming you had some brains in your head! I thought it would be obvious why you'd do it!"

Lilly was confused. "You… you did?"

Lilith nodded. "I mean, seeing as how your family doesn't respect you, I thought you'd naturally want to take the opportunity to teach them a lesson!"

Lilly's jaw dropped. "I would never do that to mom and dad and Kate! I love them!"

"But they don't love you!" Lilith spat, her slobber nearly hitting Lilly in the face. "All your life, they've hated and ignored you. Now I think you should return the favor. You already know that I can't kill you, so why not just help me and leave them to their oh-so-richly deserved demise? It's a win-win!"

Lilly shook her head vigorously, causing to bangs to fall in and out of her eyes several times. "No, they do love me! Even though I'm an Omega, they love me!"

"But they don't appreciate you," Lilith responded. "Think about it. Wouldn't you like it if they actually showed you more attention… like all the attention your sister gets?"

"Yeah, but…" Lilly said as she looked away.

"But nothing!" Lilith said. "It's not fair that they treat you like a servant instead of their daughter!"

"It's not that bad…" Lilly said quietly.

"You and I both know that it is," Lilith said. "I've been in your head, remember? So I know what I'm talking about!"

Lilly whimpered. "Maybe… maybe they don't always act like… like they should… but what am I supposed to do about it?"

Lilith rolled her eyes. "Is there actually a brain in your head or is it just goo like in a jellyfish? What you do is help me get the Philosopher's Stone! You don't want your family dead, then fine! But having absolute power over Heaven and Earth can do a lot of things. You could make your family positively adore you! You could make yourself the Alpha and Kate the Omega. You could do whatever you wanted to… er, I mean, with them."

Lilly thought about this for a moment. She had realized a flaw in this reasoning. "But how do I know that you wouldn't kill them? You want to kill everybody."

Lilith leaned against Lilly and smiled. "Okay, I'll tell you what I'll do. If you help me, I promise not to destroy your family. Or Norway. Deal?"

* * *

Garth sniffed the ground, frantically following Lilly's scent through the grey woods. Finally, he found Lilly's paw-prints. These he followed until he noticed something strange; Lilly's prints suddenly went from four to eight. And four of those eight were releasing smoke.

"Lilith!" he shouted in rage.

"You say something, sir?" Edgar said as he came up behind Garth.

"Lilith's got Lilly!" Garth said. "She's kidnapped her!"

"Hm," Edgar said, "so do you want to hear how I caught the caribou-thieves yet?"

"We have to rescue Lilly!" Garth said, more to himself than Edgar.

"Yeah, I suppose we could do that too," Edgar said, disappointed. "My idea was more fun, though."

But Garth wasn't paying attention. He was studying the tracks on the ground. Suddenly, he noticed that Lilly's paw-prints disappeared, leaving only Lilith's. Something bad had happened. Garth's only choice was to follow Lilith's prints wherever they led.

"Hold on Lilly, I'm coming!" Garth shouted as he ran in the direction of Lilith's paw-prints.

"There he goes, always running after something," Edgar said, following him, "as if he had somewhere important to be."

* * *

Lilith leaned closer toward Lilly, the grin on her face getting wider. "It's a good deal but I can't wait around all day for you to decide. So, right here and now, what do you say?"

Lilly looked down at her trapped paws as she considered things. "Well…."

* * *

**What choice will Lilly make? Will she really accept Lilith's offer?**

**Read on.**


	19. Lilly's Choice

**This story has now somehow passed one-hundred pages in my Microsoft Word, so I think it's about time that it starts wrapping up. Luckily, we've come to the second-to-last chapter - only one more after this one! **

**And trust me, you don't want to miss this...**

* * *

Lilith leaned closer toward Lilly, the grin on her face getting wider. "It's a good deal but I can't wait around all day for you to decide. So, right here and now, what do you say?"

Lilly looked down at her trapped paws as she considered things. "Well…."

"Just say yes, it's that simple," Lilith said, more like ordering than suggesting.

"Um, ye–" Lilly began, trying to speak despite being terrified. Lilith smiled in anticipation, figuring that Lilly was going to say yes.

"Ye- you see, I don't… I don't, um–" Lilly was trying to stall, even though she didn't know for what.

Lilith was clearly growing impatient.

Just then, she was interrupted by a voice calling her name. "Lilly! Lilly, are you down here?"

"Garth?" Lilly said, realizing that it was her mate.

Lilith growled. "Leave it to Loverboy to come in and ruin everything just when I had got it all set up so perfectly."

She turned back to Lilly. "Just say yes, already! One syllable, just say it!"

"Lilly, where are you?" Garth called again.

Lilly suddenly felt braver with Garth nearby. She shook her head in answer to Lilith's offer. "No," she said.

Lilith let out a loud growl. "Well, maybe you'll change your mind after I skewer your boyfriend!" And then she disappeared in a cloud of black mist.

Meanwhile, Garth and Edgar were trying to find their way through the large caverns. Garth was busy sniffing the ground for Lilly's scent, which had become obscured in the winding paths through the caves. Edgar, meanwhile, was not paying much attention.

"So you see," Edgar said, "after me and Zack were sent flying, we happened to land right on top of the caribou-thieves as they were making their getaway. That's how I managed to apprehend them and they were – hey, where'd this black mist come from?"

Garth, having otherwise tuned Edgar out, now jerked his head around. "Black mist?"

Sure enough, a murky black mist had filled the cavern.

"That can only mean… Lilith," Garth said.

And when he turned back around, he saw the black hellhound standing right in front of him.

"Speak of the devil," Lilith said with an evil grin.

* * *

"Okay," Kate said. "We have no idea what happened to Garth or Lilly. We should probably assume that Lilith has gotten them already."

Eve let out a shriek at the idea that her daughter may have come to harm. "Ghost or no ghost, if she hurts my Lilly, I'm going to make her suffer so much that she'll wish she had never been born!"

"Our ghosts born?" Humphrey asked innocently. "I mean, I can't imagine Lilith as a pup!"

Eve snapped at him and he jumped back.

"Here's a crazy idea," Humphrey whispered to Kate. "Maybe we just have your mom go after the ghost. I actually think she'd win!"

Satisfied that there would be no more sass from her son-in-law, Eve settled into a kind of trance, smiling evilly as she imagined the destruction she would unleash on the ghost-wolf.

"Yes, well, I think we all should go after this creature," Winston said. "We owe it to Garth and Lilly. And there's always strength in numbers."

Tony, back to his usual grouchy self, remarked. "Good plan, except that we have no idea about how to defeat the thing!"

"Maybe not," Kate responded. "But I think we know someone who does. What do you say, Ambrose?"

Ambrose was standing away from the others, apparently lost in thought. It took him a few moments to realize that Kate was talking to him.

"Oh," he said with a dark smile, "why are you asking me? I'm supposed to know everything?"

"Well, you were the one in charge of finding out what those inscriptions meant," Kate said, a little impatiently. "So, yeah, I think you should know."

Ambrose shrugged. "What can I say? Someone got back to me on Hermitnet. The symbols are pretty standard charms, but we don't really have the time to either repair the old tablet or make and enchant a new one. Besides, I don't think Lilith will fall for the same stratagem a second time."

"So, you're saying we've got no way of trapping her," Kate said.

"We can't just leave my baby to that monster!" Eve yelled, causing everyone except Ambrose to wince a little.

"Of course we can't," Ambrose said, "so I suggest we get going! Lilith isn't going to wait around all day. And I think I know where she's going to be."

Ambrose began to walk off. Everyone hesitated in following him, for obvious reasons.

"But we can't just charge into her new lair! Not without a plan, and we don't have one yet!" Kate protested. The others nodded in agreement.

"Well, we don't have time to doddle either. We'll think of something on the way!" Ambrose called back.

* * *

"Where's Lilly?" Garth demanded of the ghost.

"Lilly? Lilly who?" Lilith mocked.

Garth growled. "Don't play games with me! Just tell me where she is!"

"Wait, aren't you Lilly?" Edgar asked.

Lilith now noticed him for the first time. She snarled at the ignorant rusty wolf. "Where have you been for the past few days?"

"Edgar," Garth said, annoyed by the interruption. "Do you remember how we talked about that there was a ghost that took Lilly's shape?"

"Yeah," Edgar said, "but I never believed that. There's no such thing as ghosts."

Garth's jaw dropped. "Still? You're _still _skeptical?"

"Hey, I ain't seen nothing that proves there are ghosts," Edgar said.

Then he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Lilith, who had suddenly appeared out of the mists behind him, her eyes burning with red flames and smoke escaping her nostrils and mouth.

"How 'bout now?" she asked with sinister glee.

Edgar studied her. "Nope," he said at last.

As he turned away, he said, "Like I'm going to be fully by a couple cheap magic tricks."

Garth shook his head in disbelief. Edgar was about to say more but never got the chance. A fist from Lilith sent him flying into the nearest wall.

"You're lucky that I don't have time to play with you," Lilith said to the barely-conscious wolf before returning to Garth.

"That seems to happen a lot to him," Garth noted.

Lilith didn't really care. Instead, she began to pace around Garth. "Now where were we?"

"Where's Lilly, Lilith?" Garth demanded again.

"Oh, you mean your sweet, white, little mate?" Lilith taunted. "I've already squashed her like the cockroach she is. I imagine that some very large birds are tearing up the carcass as we speak."

Garth was horrified by this. He seemed about to cry and he felt almost like fainting. Only the pain of losing Lilly could make him feel so weak. Lilith laughed over his pain.

Then she leaned against Garth's shoulder. "But you had to know that there could only be one of us in the end. And besides, I'm more fun than she ever was. You have to admit that. I think I did the world a favor by getting rid of her."

Garth was about to break down completely, but he knew he could not let himself appear hurt or else Lilith would capitalize on it. And then he realized something.

"You said you crushed Lilly like the cockroach she is," Garth said.

"Yeah, and now you're saying it," Lilith answered mockingly.

"But, if she was already dead, you would have said 'like the cockroach she _was_.' " Garth countered. "And we both already know that you can't kill her anyway!"

Lilith shook her head frantically, trying to hide that she had been discovered. "No, she's dead, dead, dead! Dead!" Lilith chuckled nervously, hoping Garth would buy it.

"Garth, is that you?" came Lilly's voice from deeper in the cavern. "Garth, save me!"

Lilith closed her eyes in disgust. "Insufferable girl," she said.

"Don't worry, Lilly, I'm coming!" Garth called back. He began to run.

But Lilith grabbed him and pulled him back. "Where do you think you're going, Loverboy? We ain't done here!"

"Get out of my way!" Garth shouted.

Lilith began to pace again. "Oh, like shouting is supposed to scare me? Really? You should have more respect than that! In case you didn't get it, I could tear you apart in a heartbeat! After all, I'm a being of darkness and unspeakable evil. The mere thought of me drives you pathetic mortals insane. I'm responsible for more acts of violence and cruelty than you could ever imagine! I'm over a thousand years old and–"

Lilith fell to the ground after receiving a haymaker from Garth. Without a word, he stepped over her and dashed down toward Lilly.

"How dare you hit me when I'm bragging! I was totally off-guard." Lilith said as she stood up. "Do you even know how rude that is? For being heroes and everything, you people really have no sense of manners!"

But, seeing that Garth was not paying any attention but was instead getting away, Lilith ran after him. Despite his being one of the two strongest and fastest Alphas in the United Pack, Lilith's supernatural speed allowed her to catch up to him easily. She pounced and pinned Garth to the ground.

Lilly heard the commotion. She knew something was wrong. "Garth!" she yelled, trying to get herself free. "Garth, what's happening? Garth!"

She heard the sounds of a struggle as Garth tried in vain to overpower the hellhound. Lilly's heart sunk as she heard Lilith's evil laugh and the sound of Garth being crushed.

And finally, she had enough. No longer afraid for herself, the only thing Lilly could think about was saving her mate. Her love for Garth and her fear of what would happen to him gave her strength beyond an Omega and, without realizing it, she broke her paws free and crashed through the bars of her prison. She ran toward the sound of the noise, as something dawned on her. She knew what she had to do.

Lilith pulled back one of her paws and prepared to deliver the killing blow. "Time for you to die, Loverboy!" she said. "I'm going to enjoy this! Your girlfriend's going to be so sad – which makes me so happy!"

But then, Lilly's voice came from behind Lilith. "Leave Garth alone!"

Lilith closed her eyes in frustration again, "Insufferable girl…"

Suddenly, she turned on Lilly. "You couldn't just accept my offer, could you? No, you had to have a conscience about it, didn't you?"

But then she realized something was different about Lilly. For the first time, Lilly did not look afraid. Instead, she just stood there, smiling serenely as a gust of wind blew the bangs out of her shining lavender eyes. In the dark cavern, Lilly's white fur seemed to glow and Lilith almost thought she was seeing an angel.

Lilly slowly came forward. "I don't think you really would have kept your end of the bargain anyway."

"Well, give the girl a prize," Lilith mocked. "She does have some brains in that head after all! Of course I wasn't going to share anything, especially not anything as powerful as the Philosopher's Stone, with you!"

"And I don't think you ever really wanted my help," Lilly added.

Lilith rolled her eyes. "Of course not! I was just giving you the offer because I needed to corrupt you! I can't absorb your soul because it's too pure, right? Well, if you had accepted my offer, you would have done something evil and wouldn't be pure anymore! Then I could absorb your soul and, with my full power back, I could gotten the Philosopher's Stone and destroyed this whole valley!"

Lilly shrugged. "Guess it didn't work."

"No, of course it didn't…" Lilith's sense that something was going wrong was getting stronger and stronger. She finally had to admit what she already knew. "Hey, you're… you're not afraid of me anymore! Why not?"

Lilly smiled. "Because I've decided that I'm not going to let you hurt Garth or anybody else. I don't care what happens to me anymore. It's not important what you do to me when other people are suffering. And I have to stop you."

Lilith laughed. "You, stop me? How could you possibly do that?" Then she realized what Lilly was about to do. "Wait, no! Stop!"

Lilly was now walking toward her. Lilith backed away in fear until she came up against a wall.

"I'll stop, if you promise not to hurt anyone anymore," Lilly said. "After all, I don't really want to hurt you. Do you promise?"

"Sure, sure, whatever," Lilith said, between whimpers. She tried to sound sincere.

Lilly smiled and looked to Garth, believing for a moment that this was actually going to end without any more death and destruction. However, Lilith had no intention of keeping her word. Instead, she took the opportunity to make a mad charge at Garth, hoping that delivering a final blow to the Alpha would distract his mate long enough for her to escape.

But Lilly was ready for her. She spun around and plunged herself at Lilith, sending them both crashing into the cave wall. And suddenly, a bright white light began to emanate from the two of them.

"Lilly, what's going on?" Garth said. "What's she so afraid of? What are you doing?"

As both Lillies were engulfed by the light, Garth heard his mate's voice. "Goodbye, Garth. Remember that I'll always love you."

Garth quickly got up. "No, Lilly!" he shouted.

When he did, he heard a voice next to him. "What's going on?"

He turned in surprise to see Kate. Beside her was Ambrose and behind the both of them were Winston, Eve, Tony, and Humphrey. They must have just arrived.

"I don't know!" Garth said. "Lilly tackled Lilith and they both disappeared into that light!"

Ambrose immediately realized what was happening. "Lilly is sacrificing her own soul! By forcing Lilith to absorb it, she'll annihilate them both!"

"Lilly, no!" Garth shouted again. "I won't let you do it!" And before anyone could stop him, he leapt into the white light, which was beginning to expand rapidly.

Kate tried to go after him but Ambrose pulled her back. "Everybody, get down!" he shouted.

And then the light exploded, filling the whole cavern with blinding intensity in a single blast.

* * *

**What happened?**

**Read on.**


	20. The Tables Turned

**We've finally reached the conclusion of A Jasper Ghost Story. If you've read any of my other stories, you know I tend to write super-long conclusions. This story is no exception. I could not find a good place to break it into two chapters and, besides, my goal was to complete this story in an even 20 chapters anyway. But the conclusion is action-packed and ties up all the loose ends. So I think it's worth it.**

**I've got my first poll up on my profile page. It's about Lilith. You'll understand why I'm asking it after you finish reading this chapter. I'll probably have it open for a week so, if you want to, please vote.**

**And, as always, a big thank you to DLW, Humphrey Loves Kate, Imjustlikehumphrey, LoyalWolfHumphrey, and everyone else who took the time to read, follow, and review another one of my probably-too-long stories. You guys have made this my most popular story so far and I really appreciate all the support and feedback I've gotten. So once again: Thank you to all of you!**

**Enough from me. Now, onto the conclusion of A Jasper Ghost Story:**

* * *

As Garth fought his way through the blinding light, he could barely see anything. "Lilly!' he called out, but the sound of the blast rushing past him made it impossible to hear. So he kept going.

Finally, he saw what looked like a struggle in the light. He could see Lilith's black body fighting to stop the light from absorbing her. He ran over, figuring that where Lilith was, Lilly also had to be.

And finally, he saw the shining lavender of Lilly's eyes. It was the only thing he could see, since her white fur blended in too well with the white light. But he now knew where Lilly was. Reaching toward her, he felt his paws run over her shoulders. Quickly he put his forelegs around her and began to pull.

"Garth, what are you doing here?" Lilly screamed, afraid that her mate would be destroyed with herself and Lilith.

"I am not going to let you destroy yourself!" Garth said. And then, with all of his strength, he pulled Lilly away from her black double. Holding onto her tightly, he pulled her back through the light.

The explosion was over, the light was gone. Kate and Ambrose quickly got up, as did the others behind them. Kate turned to Ambrose.

"Now look what you caused! Now Lilly and Garth are dead, all because you wouldn't tell us what you were hiding for so long! I'll because you had to protect your precious Philosopher's Stone! And what good was it?"

Edgar finally forced himself out of the hole into which Lilith had punched him earlier. He now slowly shambled over to the others. "What happened, he said?"

Humphrey was the first to answer. "Oh, nothing much. Lilly and Garth just blew up when Lilly made Lilith devour her soul is all. And then there was a huge explosion of white light. So, yeah, nothing at all…" Humphrey was too upset about Lilly and Garth to finish the joke he was trying to make.

"Oh, good. I thought I missed something," Edgar said. "Wait? Did you say Garth and Miss Lilly blew up?"

"They wouldn't have if Ambrose had been honest with us about the Philosopher's Stone from the start! Maybe if we knew that these caverns led down to it, we wouldn't have had to wait for Lilly and Garth to get abducted!"

"What's the Philosopher's Stone?" Edgar asked.

"It turns base metals into gold and silver, grants eternal life, and apparently gives you the power of a god," Humphrey said.

"And it's down in these caverns, you say?" Edgar said, an idea forming clearly in his mind.

Meanwhile, Ambrose was not happy with being blamed by Kate, especially since it caused Eve and Tony to glare at him as though they were planning his demise. Grumpily, he said, "Well, don't blame me! You're the ones who are all blind! Maybe if you just looked around you, you'd see that there's no cause for anger."

Kate and the others looked in the direction Ambrose pointed, back toward where the explosion had occurred. There they say two forms, one red and the other white, lying motionless on the ground. Naturally, the onlookers still assumed the worst. But then Garth began to force himself up. He checked on his mate and then he carefully put Lilly on his back and walked over to the others.

"Is she…" Kate began to ask, unable to even say what she was thinking.

"No, she's alive," Garth said wearily.

"Thank heaven!" Eve shouted as she and Winston ran over.

"She's very weak," Garth said as he lowered Lilly into her parents' waiting paws. "I don't think I got to her in time."

"On the contrary," Ambrose said. "You got there just in time. A single second more and Lilly's soul would have been completely sucked out of her body, obliterating both her and Lilith."

"Lilly, sweetie, can you hear me?" Eve said, afraid that her daughter was unconscious.

Lilly's lavender eyes slowly fluttered open. "Mom? What happened? How come I didn't blow up?"

"Come on, you always knew that Lilly would ask you that question someday, right?" Humphrey joked in relief to Eve.

Eve promptly elbowed him.

"Never mind that, dear," Winston said. "How do you feel?"

"I feel… tired," Lilly said. "I… I don't think I can get up."

"That's fine, sweetie," Eve reassured her. "You just rest for now."

"Hm, explosion my foot!" Edgar said. "Yeah, I knew that nothing coulda happened."

Tony growled at him and he took the opportunity to slip out of sight.

"Um, maybe I'm the only one whose thinking this," Humphrey said, "but if Lilly's fine, what happened to Lilith?"

"See for yourself," Ambrose said. "If Lilly wasn't killed, that must mean that Lilith wasn't either."

Everyone looked over toward the same spot. There, Lilith was slowly trying to pull herself out of a large hole created when she was blasted back by the explosion. She fell to the ground and struggled to get up. When she did so, she looked over at the wolves and snarled.

Suddenly, she broke into run, charging directly for them. Garth assumed that she was trying to reach Lilly and, despite still feeling weak, jumped in her path. Kate followed close behind. Lilith lunged for Garth.

And bounced off his chest, falling backward to the ground.

"What just happened?" Garth asked Kate.

Suddenly, Ambrose broke out laughing. "Doesn't anybody else see what's going on here? Because Garth pulled Lilly away a second soon, Lilith wasn't destroyed by absorbing her soul. But she was in contact with Lilly's pure soul for so long that it did the next worst thing. Any guesses?"

Nobody answered. But then Lilith stood up. She was very angry, as her mouth was twisted into a vicious snarl and her eyes were filled with rage. She was clearly trying to assume her more menacing form, with burning eyes and smoking nostrils. But nothing happened.

"As I said, the next worst thing," Ambrose continued. "It destroyed her powers. For all intents and purposes, she's mortal now."

Hearing this new information, Kate and Garth began to advance on Lilith, ready to finally give the former hellhound the payback she so richly deserved. However, just as they were about to reach her, they suddenly felt someone grab their shoulders and push them apart. Eve walked between them and toward Lilith, her face twisted into a vicious grin. "My turn to play," she said.

"Oh, and what are you going to do to me, you old hag?" Lilith taunted. "You're too old and feeble to do anything to me! From the looks of you, you might break a hip just trying!"

"Now, now," Eve said, still in a menacing tone. "Didn't anyone ever tell you it's not polite to talk like that to your elders?"

Everyone averted their eyes as Eve pounced on Lilith. Nobody wanted to look as the strange sound of the former ghost-wolf's screams told them just how horrible her punishment was.

Meanwhile, in another part of the cavern, down a long dark corridor, Edgar had come to a stop. In front of him were a number of wooden boards, completely covering and blocking the passage he was trying to go down.

"Hm, like these old boards are going to keep me from getting the Philosopher's Stone!" Edgar muttered. "Like that's going to stop me!" And, with all of his strength, he charged, shattering the wooden boards and bounding into the passage behind them.

"That was too easy," he said. But then, he began to hear a distant rumbling.

Back in the main chamber, Kate and Lilly were trying to restrain their mother from impaling Lilith on a stalagmite.

"Mom," Kate said. "I think you can stop now!"

"Yeah," Lilly added. "I think she's too beat up now to hurt us anymore."

"I don't care," Eve said. "I want her to pay dearly for everything she's put us through!"

Then, they all began to hear a rumbling. Suddenly, they saw Edgar running straight toward them.

"Edgar, what's wrong?" Garth asked.

"No time to talk," Edgar said as he ran past. "Giant tidal-wave right behind me!"

Everybody stared in silence for a moment.

"Somehow, I don't think that's good," Humphrey said finally.

"He broke through one of the barriers, didn't he?" Ambrose said with a smirk. "When will they ever learn?"

"Everybody, let's get out of here!" Tony yelled.

Eve dropped Lilith, her anger washed away by the motherly need to get her daughters to safety. "Come on, girls," she said, "we have to go!"

She pushed Kate and Lilly in front of her as everyone else made to exit the cave. Lilith started to get up just as they were leaving.

"Oh, had enough, huh?" Lilith yelled after them. "I knew that even without my powers I could beat all you losers without lifting a single paw! Enjoy the shame of your defeat!"

And then she heard the rumbling. Turning around, she saw the water flooding through the passageways, causing the whole cavern to begin to collapse.

"What the hellhound?" Lilith said.

And quickly, she ran away from the waves, in the same direction as the others.

Winston and Tony were leading the wolves out of the caves through the passageway they had entered, with Eve bringing up the rear. But, just as they were about to reach daylight, the passage in front of them collapsed completely. They were now trapped.

"Okay, so I guess this means we're going to die for sure now, right?" Humphrey said. "I mean, there's absolutely no way out now, right? We're all in for a nice relaxing bath of death, right?"

Kate elbowed him.

"I'm just trying to lighten the mood before our inevitable annihilation!" Humphrey responded.

Kate elbowed him again, harder this time.

"Actually, there's still a way out," Ambrose said. "I know these caverns like the back of my paw. I know a way that will take us back to the Haunted Caves and get us out."

"Thank heaven," Eve and Kate said together.

"That is, if it hasn't already collapsed," Ambrose added cheerfully.

Kate elbowed Humphrey a third time.

"I didn't say anything!" Humphrey protested.

"You were about to!" Kate shot back.

"Yeah, well, guilty as charged on that one," Humphrey admitted.

"Well, if it's our only chance," Winston said, "we'll have to take it."

Ambrose nodded. "Okay, then let's get a move on. Daylight's wasting, you know."

Ambrose led them through a small side passage just as the flood started barreling through their original pathway. Right in front of that flood was Lilith.

"Hey, cockroaches, wait for me!" she called after them as she made the turn herself.

Ambrose quickly led them through all the twists and turns, with Lilith and the flood gaining on them every moment. Finally, up ahead they saw a large opening. Hurriedly scurrying through it, they found that they were in Lilith's gloomy cave, dark as ever. But just a few feet away was the cave entrance and safety.

"Just a little while longer," Ambrose said cheerfully, as though he was out on a jog and not fleeing a cavern-collapsing flood.

As they hurried to the entrance, however, the cave itself began to shake and crumble. Unsteadied by the force, Lilly tripped and fell to the ground. It looked as though she might get caught in the waves. Garth hurriedly circled back to get her. He picked her up and suddenly realized that he was being helped by a rust-colored pair of paws.

"Edgar?" Garth said.

"I know what it looks like," Edgar said. "But, no matter how much I dislike it, Miss Lilly is one of us Eastern wolves now, and we never leave our own in danger!"

Garth nodded in understanding. Together, they brought Lilly to her feet and helped her back into a run. They managed to move her just in time; a second later a large boulder fell from the roof and onto the spot where Lilly had just been. The quickly rejoined the others and continued the escape.

Finally, everyone managed to get out into the open air and safety.

Well, not _everyone_. Lilith came running after them, with the flood waters right behind her. They all watched as she neared the entrance, most of them wondering whether it was better to root for her or hope that she got swallowed up by the waters. But Lilith never made it out of the cave. As she neared the entrance, the cave roof collapsed on top of her, leaving her half-buried under the rubble.

Lilly immediately ran over to help pull Lilith out. "Come on, guys, we have to save her!" Lilly said.

"Not to sound critical, honey," Garth responded, "but this was the wolf whose been haunting you for the past two weeks. This is the wolf you just tried to kill. And now you want to save her?"

"I only tried to stop her because she was about to kill you," Lilly said. "But now that she has no powers, she's harmless."

"Don't bet on it," Lilith grumbled.

"And just because she's a terrible person doesn't mean we should let her die if we don't have to," Lilly said.

She went back to trying to save Lilith, who each time tried to bat her away with her paw.

"What, you think you'll save me and then I'll change my ways?" Lilith mocked. "I'll become a good guy and not harm anyone anymore? After all I've done? Hardly! I wouldn't have a chance if I wanted to."

"There's always a chance for redemption," Ambrose said. "You just have to be willing to ask for it."

"I don't need to ask for anything," Lilith shot back. "I can take whatever I want."

Ambrose smiled. "And that is why you shall never be free."

Lilly could not get Lilith unloose. But what was left of the cavern, the entrance, continued to shake and crumble. Garth realized what was coming and swooped in to pull Lilly back. Just after he had done so, the last remnants of the roof began to fall.

"Dang," Lilith said as the cavern collapsed on top of her, burying her completely under an impenetrable wall of rock.

All the wolves, with the exception of Ambrose, watched as the rest of the Haunted Caves also collapsed, burying their dark secrets forever.

"So, does this mean that there's no way to reach the Philosopher's Stone?" Kate asked Ambrose as she stared in disbelief.

"Oh, for the wise, there are always ways," he responded.

Kate shrugged. "Well, I guess we at least now know about it. And I suppose I should thank you…" She cringed as she said the next part, "And apologize…"

She heard Ambrose laughing.

"No, really," she began as she turned around. But the old hermit was gone.

Kate smiled, a bemused but also amused smile.

Garth and Lilly hugged, both relieved that the other was safe. And then Garth noticed Lilly's shoulder. "Lilly," he said, "that mark, it's disappeared!"

Lilly smiled knowingly as she looked down at it. "Yeah, it's been gone since I stopped fearing her."

"Well, I guess this means that Lilith's finally toast and the curse is over!" Humphrey said. "All's well that ends well, just like I always knew it would!"

Kate elbowed him.

"Okay, so maybe I had a few teensy-weensy doubts," Humphrey said, "but, hey, everything still worked out!"

"And we can all be thankful for that, right dear?" Winston said, turning to Eve.

Eve giggled. "Well, it certainly was fun in its own sort of way. I don't remember the last time I got to maul so many people in one week!"

"Can we just go home?" Tony asked. "I just want to put this place as far behind me as possible."

"Yes," Winston said, "I think we could all use a nice rest." The others all nodded in agreement.

And the wolves set off home, talking about the adventure and how happy they were to be done with it. Except for Edgar, who tried to talk to Garth and Tony, but received the cold shoulder from both.

"What's everybody's problem?" he asked. "Why won't anybody talk to me? Okay, sure, I may have nearly gotten us all killed, but I did save Miss Lilly's life, which has got to count for something. And I caught the caribou-thieves, after all."

"Edgar, we really don't care about the caribou thieves!" Garth said. "It can wait until tomorrow."

"That's too bad," Edgar said. "I don't think that we're allowed to hold Western Pack wolves overnight."

Winston was naturally concerned. "Which Western Pack wolves?"

"Um, those two Omegas… what were their names?" Edgar took a moment to think about it. "Oh yeah, Reba and Janice!"

"The vegetarians?" Kate, Humphrey, and Garth said in surprise.

**(Author's Note: Remember this joke from "Lilly Saves the Day"?)**

"That has to be some mistake," Kate said.

"We'll deal with it later, dear," Winston said. "Right now, we've got to get back to normality around here."

"Mistake? I never make mistakes!" Edgar said proudly.

Tony glumly looked over at his subordinate. "Edgar, remind me to demote you when we get back home."

"Will do, sir!" Edgar answered.

"Serves him right," Kate muttered.

"Hey," Humphrey said at last, "does anybody else wonder whatever happened to Zack?"

"Oh, he's probably out investigating some other cave around the valley or something," Kate answered.

* * *

"Come on, guys, its perfect!" Zack said.

In front of him were the disembodied ghosts of Nick and Aaron, his old partners.

Zack continued, "Just think, a ghost hunting outfit where the ghost hunters are actually ghosts! That should get us a television show for sure! Well, at least a web-series."

Nick and Aaron glanced at each other in disapproval. "No offense, man," Nick said, "but that ghost hunting stuff just isn't as exciting when you're actually a ghost. I mean, you'd just kinda be investigating yourself."

Zack thought about this. "Good point, but it's not like you've got anything else better to do! And think of all the money we could make!"

Aaron shrugged. "But we're wolves… and ghosts… so we don't really need money."

Zack shook his head. "Well, what else can you do? You're both dead!"

"Actually," Aaron said, "I always wanted to go to Disneyland. If the Haunted Mansion has a vacancy, that would be perfect!"

"That's actually not a bad idea," Nick said. "We should try that. And if not, there's one in Florida too!"

And then they both started to float away in the direction of California.

"Wait, guys!" Zack called after them. "Where's your sense of loyalty?"

"Loyalty?" Nick called back. "Sorry, man, but you're the one who got us killed!"

"Yeah, we owe you nothing!" Aaron added.

And then they were gone.

"Now what do I do?" Zack said. "I guess I really will have to turn to UFO hunting now. It's probably much safer."

Then he heard a noise coming from out of the sky. Before he could even glance in that direction, he found himself covered in a beam of white light. Looking up, Zack saw a giant saucer-shaped spaceship hover in the heavens above him.

"On second thought, maybe it isn't," he said just before being teleported away. The flying saucer immediately sped off with supernatural speed and disappeared into the night.

* * *

"Yeah, Zack's probably having the time of his life," Humphrey said.

"I'm just relieved that this all is finally over," Lilly said with one of her happy smiles.

"I guess we made it through another crazy adventure," Kate said, looking proud of herself (like she usually does).

"Even if this one was crazier than most!" Humphrey added with a laugh.

"But now our home is much safer," Garth said. "I'm going to enjoy the peace and quiet. Caribou hunting might even seem boring after this!"

Lilly nuzzled him as they walked. "Nothing will seem boring as long as we're together! I can't believe it, but going through this has made me even more excited for our future!"

"You and me both, honey," Garth said. "You and me both."

That night, Lilly and Garth and Humphrey and Kate and all their parents got their first restful night's sleep in two weeks, certain that the curse of Jasper Park was over and that their home would never be threatened by such evil again.

* * *

It was morning at the former Haunted Caves as rocks were slowly being pushed out of the large pile of debris that was the only remnant of the large cave that had stood there a day before. Finally, after digging all night Lilith emerged from the rubble. Slowly, in complete pain, she staggered forward. Being mortal was no easy task.

And then Lilith looked up to see the sun shining above, not covered this time by her mist of black smoke. She winced in pain; she had never thought that the mere sight of the sun could cause her such discomfort. This reminded her of her mortal condition – and made her angry. She began to shout toward the blue heavens. "You wolves all thought you were so clever, that you could get rid of me so easily! Well, I'll tell you what, I'm still here! And I may not have my powers, but nothing is going to stop me from utterly destroying every last one of–"

Suddenly, Lilith felt a stinging sensation in her rear end. She began to wobble back and forth as she got increasingly dizzy and disoriented.

She tried to continue her threat. "I'll get… I'll get you all… all yet… You won't get… efth."

She collapsed to the ground, a large tranquilizer dart sticking out of her rear. From the bushes, two humans appeared.

"It's a real shame that the first two wolves we got here managed to escape. But this one looks fine enough, though."

The other one nodded. "Okay, let's load her up and get out of here. They've already sent a male already from another part of Canada. So all we need is her and we can go home."

So they grabbed the black wolf and placed her in a crate and then drove her out of Jasper Park. She would ultimately be taken out of Canada completely.

Lilith's unknowing and unwilling destination: Sawtooth Park, Idaho.

**The End?**


End file.
